It’s not just about being smart.

It’s not just about being a good test taker.

You have to be elite.

Of the 1.3 million students who take the PSAT, only 16,000 are named National Merit Scholarship semi finalists. This year, seven of them come from Monarch.

The National Merit Scholarship is reserved for students who score in the top one percent on the PSAT. The Monarch semi-finalists this year are, Landon Crain, Alexander Darnow, Zach Dykstra, Jonah Kim, Leif Petricka, and Kelsey Wolf.

“You have to write an essay,” counselor Ben Holloway said.“You have to get letters of recommendation, and you have to do an application process to then do the final qualification.”

If a student is awarded the scholarship, they are given $2,500, and depending on which college they attend, they can receive additional funding.

“I had a student who went to CU and their school gave $10,000 a year for being a National Merit finalist,” Holloway said.

There are school-specific opportunities presented if a student is a finalist in the program. Being a finalist is the ultimate goal, but just being nominated as a semi finalist is a tremendous accomplishment.

Leif Patricka ‘24, one of the semi finalists, is ecstatic to have received the high commendation.

“I am honored that I got the National Merit. I worked really hard for a long time to prove myself to get to this point,” Patricka said.