"Celebrities" was the term Bentonville High School Principal Jack Loyd used to describe the school's 14 students named National Merit semifinalists this year.
"You 14 are the best of the best," Loyd said during an event held Tuesday in the students' honor. "We're going to celebrate these 14 young adults throughout the school year."
Semifinalists
Here’s a look at how many National Merit Semifinalists have been produced by the four largest school districts in Northwest Arkansas, along with charter school Haas Hall Academy, over the past five years.
School District2015201420132012*2011
Bentonville144611*8
Fayetteville99914*22
Haas Hall Academy6764*1
Rogers7544*3
Springdale4722*1
Source: Staff report
That will include halftime recognition at a Bentonville High basketball game, he said.
Representatives of the University of Arkansas attended the event to present the students the Chancellor's Scholarship, worth $8,000 per year. It's worth $10,000 per year if they become National Merit finalists and list the university as their first choice to the Merit Corporation.
Lynda Coon, dean of the university's Honors College, pitched to the students and their parents the benefits of coming to her school. She emphasized the opportunities students have to work on research projects with professors.
"When you're in Honors College, the faculty will jump over each other to work with you," Coon said.
National Merit semifinalists typically demonstrate "intellectual imagination," coupling majors in creative ways, Coon said. They are leaders and good citizens, "precisely the kind of students we want to have," she said.
Arkansas had 141 of about 16,000 seniors announced in September as semifinalists in the 2016 National Merit Scholarship Program.
Students enter the program by taking the Preliminary SAT test when they are juniors. The top performers on the test are named semifinalists, who then may submit a detailed application for one of the National Merit scholarships. Those students also must perform well on the SAT in order to qualify as finalists.
Semifinalists represent less than 1 percent of the nation's high school seniors, according to a news release from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
The Rogers School District produced seven semifinalists this year -- three from Rogers High School and four from Heritage High School -- the district's best total since 2010.
"I found practice tests are really helpful," said George Hill, a semifinalist from Heritage with an interest in chemical and biochemical engineering. "You learn how to balance accuracy with speed. It's helpful to practice when to guess and when to move on."
William Clift, another Heritage semifinalist, said challenging himself with demanding courses built his confidence as well as his academic ability. He credited his parents with pushing him toward those challenges.
"I guess they saw some semblance of potential in me. They encouraged me," Clift said.
Rogers administrators examine the testing data from their schools to identify any ways they can increase their semifinalist numbers, said Darla Tomasko, an assistant principal at Heritage.
"We see where as a whole those kids might be able to improve, what we can do instructionally to push some of that information back into the classrooms," Tomasko said.
Bentonville's 14 semifinalists was a record for the school and an increase of 10 from last year. Little Rock's Central High School was the only school in the state that had more this year, with 16.
Four years ago, Bentonville began giving every sophomore the PSAT on a practice basis, preparing them to take the real thing during their junior year. The school also launched a test preparation class to help students prepare for the ACT, PSAT and SAT.
Last year, the school gave its top scorers on the practice PSAT a PSAT prep book and encouraged them to take the test during their junior year.
Chad Scott was principal at Bentonville for two years before becoming principal at Fayetteville High School this year. He was pleased to hear of Bentonville's latest semifinalist total.
"Seeing that number, I was proud of that," Scott said. "I can't say I did a lot of the work, but I'm a big believer you can have really great kids, and some are going to reach that level of being a semifinalist or finalist. But if we're intentional about it and strategic about it, we can increase the chances of certain kids and increase the numbers."
Fayetteville High School has produced the most semifinalists of any Northwest Arkansas school over the past five years. Scott, however, said Fayetteville still can improve in that category. This year the school targeted about 50 freshmen to take a practice PSAT, two years before they are scheduled to take the real thing.
A school's semifinalist numbers are always going to ebb and flow, Scott said.
"But you definitely want to do everything you possibly can to push that number, because the opportunities those kids have when they get that status are pretty phenomenal," he said. "It's almost an automatic full-ride scholarship somewhere."
NW News on 11/05/2015