Pottsgrove High School Senior Josiah Thieme Has Been Named as National Merit Scholar Semi-Finalist

Josiah Thieme

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by Pottsgrove High School

Josiah Thieme, son of Brenda and Charles Thieme, has been recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Program as a semi-finalist.

Josiah will now compete for the National Merit Scholarship Finalist honor which will make him eligible for scholarships through the National Merit Scholarship Program.

Josiah, a Senior at Pottsgrove High School, is a high achieving student who also participates in extracurricular activities. Josiah plays the saxophone in the concert, marching, and jazz bands, as well as, plays on the tennis team while being actively involved with the robotics program at Pottsgrove.

Josiah is hoping to attend Stanford University next fall to study engineering.

He is one of 16,000 semi-finalists announced in this 64th year of the National Merit Scholarship Program.

These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $31 million that will be offered next spring. 

To be considered for a National Merit Scholarship award, semi-finalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of competition. Over 90 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and about half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.

National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalist recognition is received by having exceptionally high PSAT scores in the Junior year. In early September, about 16,000 students, or approximately one-third of the 50,000 PSAT high scorers, are notified that they have qualified as Semi-Finalists. 

To ensure that academically talented young people from all parts of the United States are included in this talent pool, semi-finalists are designated on a state-representational basis. They are the highest scoring entrants in each state.

NMSC provides scholarship application materials to semi-finalists through their high schools. 

To be considered for a National Merit® Scholarship, semi-finalists must advance to finalist standing in the competition by meeting high academic standards and all other requirements explained in the information provided to each semi-finalist.