Berkeley County School District is pleased to announce that Hanahan High senior Avelyn Bailey has been named a semifinalist for the 2024 National Merit Scholarship program.
Bailey joins one of more than 16,000 semifinalists from across the nation who were named last week by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. These seniors have the opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,140 National Merit Scholarships – worth nearly $28 million – that will be offered next spring.
Bailey is a very active student at Hanahan High. She serves as Student Body Vice President and the International Club Vice President. She is the National Honors Society community liaison and a member of the International Thespian Society.
She is undecided where she wants to attend college next year, but plans to major in political science.
Bailey said she is excited to have made it to the semifinalist circle for the scholarship.
“I’m proud of my accomplishment,” she said.
More than 1.3 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2024 National Merit Scholarship program by taking the 2022 preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, according to a press release from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.
Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to become a finalist for the competition. Students must submit a detailed scholarship application that provides information about their academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. They must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay and earn SAT/ACT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.
The press release also states that about 95 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain “finalist” standing, and half of those students will win a National Merit Scholarship.
Bailey will be notified in February if she makes it to the finalist level. Winners will be start being announced next spring.
Bailey is the daughter of Accalia Bailey – who also happens to be her AP Calculus teacher at Hanahan High – and Ruffin Bailey.