2 Rhinebeck High students named semifinalists in National Merit Scholarship Program – Daily Freeman
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Rhinebeck High School seniors Beatrice Macdonald and Alan Raitt were among more than 16,000 high school students nationwide who were selected as semifinalists for the 71st annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
Students are chosen as semifinalists based on their Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test scores in their junior year. Macdonald and Raitt scored 1,510 and 1,500, respectively. The highest score that can be attained on the PSAT is 1,520. Less than 1% of the nation’s high school seniors are chosen to be semifinalists.
“It’s a really great feeling,” Macdonald said in a press release. “It reflects a lot of the work I put in to try and do well in school. It’s nice to be recognized on a level outside of just your school district. It reflects what a great environment Rhinebeck is to excel beyond Rhinebeck.”
Raitt added in the release, “It means a lot to me. Without the help I’ve gotten from my friends, my parents, I wouldn’t have been able to do this. To see the culmination of those efforts come to fruition is really nice.”
The National Merit Scholarship will require semifinalists to fulfill additional requirements to become one of the estimated 15,000 finalists. About half of the finalists will receive a National Merit Scholarship.
Macdonald, president of the science club and one of the founding members of the robotics club, is planning to
study biochemistry, Italian, and French in college.
Raitt, a member of the robotics club and crew program, is looking to study robotics and said he had fun participating in a program for high school students at Columbia University.
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