Fishers Island School Announces National Merit Finalist

Fishers Island School (FIS) senior, Elias Kane, was recently named as a National Merit Scholarship Finalist, representing less than one (1) percent of the nation’s seniors. Eli has been a student at Fishers Island School since ninth grade and is the son of Michael Kane and Syma Ebbin of Groton, CT.

Eli is actively involved in nearly all FIS activities including band, cross country, basketball, golf, student government, and drama. He has served as Student Council officer, attended HOBY Leadership training, won top honors for his research at the CT Science Fair Competition, and earned a perfect score of 800 on his Math SAT. In discussing his activities and accomplishments with this humble student, Eli shared that he has benefitted greatly “from taking advantage of every amazing opportunity that Fishers Island School has offered.”

Because Eli is deeply interested in so many areas of study, including the sciences, math, and humanities, he plans to initially pursue a Liberal Arts course of study at the collegiate level. He is currently exploring a variety of colleges and has recently interviewed at Harvard University.

Steps in the 2016 Competition

About 1.5 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2016 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2014 Preliminary sat/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (psat/nmsqt®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors. To become a Finalist, the Semifinalist and his or her high school must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the Semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. A Semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn sat® scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test. From the approximately 16,000 Semifinalists, about 15,000 are expected to advance to the Finalist level, and in February they will be notified of this designation. All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from this group of Finalists. Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference. National Merit Scholarships Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2016. Every Finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit® $2500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state-representational basis. About 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be provided by approximately 250 corporations and business organizations for Finalists who meet their specified criteria, such as children of the grantor’s employees or residents of communities where sponsor plants or offices are located. In addition, about 190 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 3,900 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.

The entire Fishers Island School community is proud of Eli’s accomplishments and wishes him the best as he competes for the merit scholarships available to students who reach the Finalist level.

Submitted by Karen Loiselle Goodwin, Superintendent/Principal, Fishers Island School

Photo by Alysanne Cochrane