BY EMILY KURTZ

Last week, three students at Wadsworth High School were awarded a semi-finalists title for the National Merit Scholarship for outstanding PSAT scores. According to The Compass Education Group, only one percent of PSAT test takers will become a semi-finalist in a National Merit competition. 

The national competition began after about 1.6 million participants applied last spring and were put in front of officials in order to be evaluated. 

Three seniors, Timmy Edwards, Bethany Baker, and Noah Falanga all applied for the National Merit Scholarships. These seniors were later recognized for their advanced academic and problem solving skills. 

Edwards hopes to attend Xavier University and he believes that this national recognition could help him with his application process for other colleges. 

“The award will hopefully help me get accepted to colleges and help me get better scholarship offers,” Edwards said. 

Along with Edward, Baker hopes that the recognition will help her with scholarship opportunities while applying to schools. 

“Being recognized for the semi-finalist standings opens up a whole new range of opportunities,” said Baker. “I think that the recognition will help me more than the possible scholarship would. Being able to put it on my applications for colleges and other scholarships is what will benefit me in the long run.”

Falanga, the third semi-finalist winner hopes to attend Ohio State University. He commented on the benefit of receiving the recognition. 

“It felt good that I could see my work and ability to manifest as something somewhat tangible,” Falanga said. 

This recognition has given all three students an advantage when it comes to applying to colleges in the future. After being named semi-finalist these students were given information in order to apply to become a finalist. The finalists of the competition will be announced February of 2020.