Whitnall High School Senior Among National Merit Semifinalists

GREENFIELD, WI – A Whitnall High School student is among 16,000 National Merit Scholarship semifinalists that were announced earlier this month.

Jenna Roderick, who is a senior at Whitnall, is among those students nationwide that are in the running for more than $30 million in scholarship funding that will be awarded next spring, officials from the National Merit Scholarship competition announced.

To be considered for one of the Merit scholarships, semifinalists must complete a number of requirements that will move them into the round of finalists that are eligible for scholarships. More than 1.5 million high school juniors from about 21,000 high schools entered the competition by taking the 2019 preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship qualifying test. The semifinalists represent less than 1 percent of seniors nationwide and includes the highest ranking students from each state, officials announced in a news release.

To move onto the round of finalists, students must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they include academic information as well as their participation in school and community activities. To be considered as a finalist, students must have a recommendation from a school official and write an essay.

Every finalist will compete for a $2,500 scholarship. About 1,000 corporate-sponsored scholarships will be awarded with funding coming from 220 corporate and business organizations. In addition, 180 college and universities will finance an estimated 4,100 sponsored Merit scholarships for finalists who attend the sponsor institution of higher education.

Winners will be announced in four nationwide rounds beginning in April and concluding in July.