Ezekiel Merriam a National Merit semifinalist
UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL has a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist. U-Hi senior Ezekiel Merriam was chosen as a National Merit semifinalist from among high school students who enter the scholarship award program after meeting requirements and taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
About 1.3 million students nationwide take the test. Only about 16,000 students — or roughly one-third of the 50,000 high scorers — qualify as semifinalists. All the program’s semifinalists are expected to receive notification in February or March on whether they have advanced as National Merit Scholarship finalists.
Merriam is a member of U-Hi’s math team and enjoys reading. He grew up in Lewiston and has lived in the Spokane Valley for about nine months.
“I plan to be part of the Amateur Radio Club,” Merriam said, when asked about his interests beyond academics. “I’m involved in Boy Scouts and church.”
His parents are Donna Shepherd and Steven Merriam.
Other Valley high school students also received recognition as National Merit Scholarship Program Commended Students. These students receive a letter of commendation from the program recognizing outstanding academic promise.
They do not continue in competition for Merit Scholarship awards, but they are candidates for special scholarships sponsored by corporations and businesses.
West Valley High School’s National Merit Scholarship Program Commended Student is Melissa Hanson.
Central Valley High School has three National Merit Commended Students. They are Brian Conley, Heather Hoberg and Meredith Kanago. CVHS student Whitney Pessein is in the running for the National Achievement Scholarship Program, a competition open to all African American high school students conducted by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
Valley Christian School’s Commended Student is Shannon Mickelson.
University High seniors honored
Five University High School seniors have had their poetry selected this year for the publication “A Celebration of Young Poets” as part of a Washington state contest. The students wrote the poems last year as juniors in teacher Elizabeth Rose‘s Advanced American Literature class. More than 40 poems were submitted by the class, but only five were selected for publication.
The students and the titles of their pieces are: Jesse Borden, “Love At First Sight”; Katy Achziger, “Arthur’s Fall”; MaryAnn Almeida, “A Fresh End”; Ashlee Dumanal, “Drive Through;” and Jennifer McMullen, “Silent Bliss.”