Accolades

Well, today I attended the math meet. I tied for third place among the seniors at the math meet with my fellow team member, Eric Heywood at 31 points out of 40, which was fourth place overall. Our team (which has been abysmal this year) pulled a surprising third place in the large school division. Overall, it was a good math meet.

However, the biggest award that I got was not the third place medal that I got from the math meet, but the notification that I had made it to the next level of the National Merit Scholar Competition. This is a scholarship opportunity based off of the PSAT test. The PSAT is a practice version of the infamous SAT test that also doubles as an entry test for the National Merit Scholar Competition. I did very well on that test with a 77 (which correlates to a 770 on the SAT) in Math and a 70 (which correlates to a 700 on the SAT) verbal score, as well as a 76 (760 on SAT II) Writing Skills. This meant that my selection index was a 223, which was high enough to qualify me for the National Merit Scholar Semifinalist level. After achieving semifinalist rank, one has to fill out an application for the National Merit Scholar scholarships, which range from $500 to $2,000 a year from either one's college or a corporation. Achieving the finalist level means that I am even closer to obtaining a scholarship as well as being a nice title that comes with a certificate. So, I am thrilled to find that I have advanced.