Altamont seniors Pierce, Williams named National Merit semifinalists

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Altamont School seniors Riley Pierce and Claudia Williams are among 263 Alabama students named semifinalists in the prestigious National Merit Scholarship Program. The pair will continue in national competition through this academic year for approximately 7,140 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28 million.

The national pool of semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying test in each state.

To become finalists, Pierce and Williams must now submit detailed scholarship applications that demonstrate their academic achievement, school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, honors and awards. They also must be endorsed by school officials, write an essay and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm their performance on the qualifying test.

If selected as finalists in February, the students will compete for three types of scholarships next spring, including:

• 2,500 individual scholarships of $2,500 each
• 840 corporate-sponsored scholarships
• 3,800 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards

Submitted by Altamont School