Alisa Jost is National Merit Scholar semi-finalist
Alisa Jost, a senior at Hillsboro High School, was chosen as one of the semi-finalists in the 48th annual National Merit Scholarship program. Jost received an index score of 212 or above on the 2001 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
Semifinalists have the opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,000 Merit Scholarship awards, worth $30 million, that will be offered next spring.
She will take another test in October to determine whether she will become one of the finalists. Requirements for finalists include a record of very high academic performance, endorsed and recommended by their school principal, and SAT scores that confirm their earlier qualifying test performance.
Merit Scholarship winners of 2003 will be announced in April, but students will know by February if they are a Merit Scholar.
Jost is the daughter of Lynn and Donna Jost of Hillsboro.
Jost joins Russell Clark (in 1993-94) and Amy Klassen (in 1987-88) as HHS students who have achieved this honor. Both Clark and Klassen went on to become finalists and were awarded the title of Merit Scholar.
Elise Matz, a senior and the daughter of Reg and Renee Matz of Hillsboro, was named a Commended Student in the 2003 Merit Scholarship Competition. She placed among the top five percent of more than one million students who entered the 2003 competition by taking the 2001 PSAT/NMSQ test.
Matz was the only one from the 2003 HHS class to receive the Commended Student award. She becomes the 20th HHS student who has achieved this award since the school's participation in 1975.
