Spencer Cornelius of Putnam City North High School is one of more than 1,600 talented African American high school seniors across the nation and nine in Oklahoma to be named a National Achievement Program semifinalist. Cornelius now has an opportunity to continue in competition for about 800 Achievement Scholarship awards, worth some $2.4 million, that will be offered next spring for college undergraduate study.
More than 160,000 high school juniors from all parts of the U.S entered the 2012 Achievement Program by requesting consideration when they took the 2010 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Qualifying Test. Semifinalists were designated within geographic regions and are the highest-scoring program entrants in the states that make up each region.
For semifinalists to advance to the finalist level of the competition and be considered for Achievement Scholarship awards, students must fulfill a number of requirements. They must have a record of high academic performance throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by their school principal, write an essay and earn SAT scores that confirm their earlier Preliminary SAT performance. The semifinalist and a school official also must complete a scholarship application in which they provide information about the student's participation in school and community activities, leadership abilities and educational goals.
Approximately 1,300 semifinalists are expected to fulfill additional requirements and advance to the finalist level in the 2012 program. The names of winners of National Achievement $2,500 Scholarships and corporate-sponsored awards will be released to news media in early April.
The program is sponsored by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, which also conducts the National Merit Scholarship Program.
The National Achievement Scholarship Program is an academic competition established in 1964 to provide recognition for outstanding African American high school students and increase their educational opportunities. Since the program was founded, more than 31,000 academically talented participants have received Achievement Scholarship awards worth more than $98 million.
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For More Information
Steve Lindley, Communications Director
(405) 495-5200, x1204
(405) 812-6119
slindley@putnamcityschools.org