Plainfield HS Senior Wins National Merit Scholarship

Plainfield South High School senior Olivia Malone has been named a 2015 National Merit Scholarship Award recipient.

Malone is one of only 2,500 students nationwide to win a $2,500 National Merit Scholarship, underwritten directly by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

She was chosen from among about 15,000 finalists nationwide. The finalists, announced last fall also included Plainfield North High School seniors Irfaan Khalid and Molly Widing; and Plainfield High School – Central Campus senior Alec Sobkoviak.

Malone joins more than 315,000 other distinguished students who have earned the National Merit Scholar title.

These exceptional students were chosen by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors based on their academic records, scores from standardized tests, contributions to and leadership in school and community activities. Finalists also had to write an essay and submit a recommendation from a high school official.

More than 1.4 million high school juniors in over 22,000 high schools nationwide entered the 2014-15 National Merit Program by taking the 2013 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.