Matawan Regional Senior Named National Merit Finalist

ABERDEEN, NJ — A student from Matawan Regional High School has been named a semi-finalist for the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program. That student is Norman Gardell, a senior this year who runs track and plays soccer for the Matawan-Aberdeen Huskies.

Two students from Old Bridge High School were also named: Daniel Maevsky and Izi Peng, also both seniors.

The semi-finalists were announced Wednesday, Sept. 11. How are students chosen as National Merit semi-finalists? Students do not actually apply in this first round. All juniors are automatically enrolled when they take the PSATs; a score above 212 earns them National Merit "commended" recognition. That is about 50,000 of the highest-scoring students in the nation.

From there, the semi-finalists are further winnowed down by state, and the number per state is in proportion to a state's population (i.e., New Jersey will have more National Merit semi-finalists than North Dakota.)

There are about 16,000 semi-finalists nationwide, representing less than 1 percent of all high-school seniors in the U.S.

Students must then apply to become a finalist. The student and their high school must submit a detailed application. The application must contain information about a student’s academic record, leadership abilities, the honors and awards they’ve received and more.

All of those chosen as semi-finalists will go on to compete for the scholarships that will be offered next spring. More than 90 percent of the semi-finalists will be named as finalists for the scholarship. Of those finalists, about half will win a scholarship to attend college. Students will find out in February whether they make it to the finalist stage. The average NMS scholarships are only worth about $2,500, but to even be considered a semi-finalist is prestigious in the academic world.