Nine students from Hamilton County Schools are moving on as Finalists in the National Merit Scholarship competition. Five of the Finalists are from Signal Mountain Middle High, and one each from East Hamilton High, Soddy-Daisy High, STEM School Chattanooga, and Ooltewah High. These students represent the top 1.12 percent of the nation in academics. The five students recognized as Finalists from Signal Mountain High are the most to earn the honor in the history of the school and also the largest number from any area school for 2019.
The students qualified for the competition as juniors by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Qualifying Test and were then selected because of their high achieving scores. These Finalists now have the opportunity to win three different scholarship types offered through the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Scholarships are provided by over 400 sponsors and funds from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
Scholarships include the National Merit scholarship, a one-time $2,500 award, for which every Finalist competes. Corporate-sponsored scholarships are given to students with career plans the sponsor wishes to encourage and can be used one time, or a recipient may renew for four years. College-sponsored scholarships are given to students with plans to attend a sponsor’s college and are renewable for up to four years. Scholarships are awarded from March to June to approximately 7,500 Finalists, chosen based on their abilities, skills, and accomplishments.
The 2019 National Merit Finalists included:
East Hamilton High
Benjamin Nelson
Ooltewah High School
Carter J. Smith
Signal Mountain High
Friedrich “Max” Burk
David Cornea
Jacob Little
Emily Perez
Jack Poss
Soddy-Daisy High School
Jacob R. DiChiacchio
STEM School Chattanooga
Noah W. Keef