Officials from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced the names of 56 Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) semifinalists considered for the 69th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
One of these semifinalists is Lisa Van Ness, a senior at Norcross High School. Van Ness excels in all academic areas but really enjoys her STEM classes.
Besides her success in the classroom, Van Ness is a member of the school’s color guard for the marching band and has spent three years on the cheer team.
She is also an accomplished pianist and enjoys dancing, reading and baking in her free time.
Over 1.3 million juniors from 21,000 high schools entered the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
Van Ness is among 16,000 semifinalists from across the nation competing for National Merit Scholarships worth almost $28 million and offered next spring.
To become a finalist, the semifinalist and the high school must submit a detailed scholarship application.
They must provide information about the semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, honors and awards.
A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, a recommendation by a high school official, write an essay and earn SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.
National Merit Scholarship winners of 2024 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July 2024.
