In September 2024, six students from Liberty High School were announced as National Merit Scholarship semifinalists, placing them in the top 1% of seniors graduating in the country in 2025 for their PSAT scores.
Due to their high score indexes, Semifinalists are given the opportunity to become Finalists and compete for National Merit Scholarships.
“The application for Finalist is mostly just a showcase of the students’ academic performance,” counseling office professional Kiana Graybeal said. “It’s classes taken, the highest level class they’ve taken for certain subjects, and a counselor recommendation letter.”
Graybeal also noted some commonalities in these students that have likely helped them succeed.
“Most of the students in any National Merit Scholar capacity are taking a minimum of one AP and one honors class, and some are in Running Start,” Graybeal said. “These students are very disciplined when it comes to academics, so they stay on top of their work. They have good performances in school and a very good rapport with their teachers.”
National Merit Semifinalists at Liberty confirmed these patterns in academics and extracurriculars, and also provided advice for the PSATs.
“I’ve taken a lot of APs,” Semifinalist Jonathan Chiu said. “You have to keep track of all the work and study for the tests.”
“I went on the PSAT website,” Semifinalist Sophie Di said. “I downloaded this app, I did some projects, and I studied a lot.”
Aside from academics, Graybeal emphasized the importance of extracurriculars.
“A lot of these National Merit Scholars are very involved outside of school, whether it’s athletics, volunteering, or participating in clubs or activities,” Graybeal said.
This involvement is reflected in the honors and awards they receive for their achievements.
“There are 16,000 high performers that were designated as Semifinalists on a state representational basis. So if you take that on a national level, that’s a very small percentage that are being recognized,” Graybeal said.
“Qualifying for or winning the scholarship is a big deal–it’s not an easy thing to achieve,” Principal Andrew Brownson said.
Chiu, however, had other things to say about how difficult it was to qualify.
“It’s easy. Red Bull. I drank four Red Bulls before the PSAT and I drank another two during the test. Lots of caffeine – that’s the secret,” Chiu said.
