Faber added to ranks of national scholars
Staff reporter
National Merit Scholarship recipients are common at Hillsboro High School.
Amanda Faber is among a long list of recipients who are recognized for their academic abilities.
The merit program has various levels of achievement: program recognition, commended students, semi-finalists, finalists, and winners.
Students must take the preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) which serves as an initial screening of approximately 1.4 million entrants.
Students respond to items on the PSAT/NMSQT answer sheet that are specific to NMSC program entry and determine whether individuals meet requirements to participate in the National Merit Scholarship Program.
Some 50,000 students who qualify for program recognition have the highest PSAT/NMSQT Selection Index scores (critical reading + mathematics + writing skills scores). Following the fall test administration, high scoring participants from every state are invited to name two colleges or universities to which they would like to be referred by NMSC. In September, these high scorers are notified through their schools that they have qualified either as a commended student or semi-finalist.
Commended students are more than two-thirds or about 34,000 high scorers. Commended students are named on the basis of a nationally applied selection index score that may vary from year to year and is below the level required for participants to be named semi-finalists.
Although commended students do not continue in the competition for merit scholarship awards, some of these students do become candidates for special scholarships sponsored by corporations and businesses.
About 16,000 students then qualify as semi-finalists. The field is narrowed more in February with when 15,000 students are notified that they have advanced as a finalist.
All winners of merit scholarship awards are chosen from the finalist group based on abilities, skills, and accomplishments.
"Amanda was in the top 3 1/2 percent of 1.4 million students who took the test," Honeck said, which is a tremendous accomplishment.
Hillsboro High School seems to have more than its share of award winners.
"Parents are key to the success of students," Honeck said.
Preparation for the tests and academic achievements of students begins before high school.
Honeck emphasized the importance of parents being involved with their children's education and development during their elementary years to help prepare them for their secondary years and beyond.
"The recognition definitely benefits the school and the school district," Honeck added.
Faber plans to attend Tabor College next year but is undecided regarding a major.
She is the daughter of Dave and Connie Faber of Hillsboro. She has a sister, Becky, who is a freshman, and a brother, Harry, who is in seventh grade.
