National Merit is a scholarship competition for high school students who took the Preliminary SAT (PSAT). Using test scores and responses, about 16,000 out of the 1.5 million students who took the test are chosen as National Merit semifinalists. These students will then be siphoned down to 8,000 who receive a scholarship.

This year, Fresno Christian has the honor of having a student who has earned the title of semifinalist: senior Daniel Moore.

Moore is the son of Richard and Janet Moore and brother to campus sophomore Andrew. He has attended Fresno Christian since kindergarten, and has taken the PSAT every year from freshman to junior year.

Although Moore did not necessarily expect to be chosen as a semifinalist, taking the test in previous years prepared him to do well in his junior year.

“I looked over some of the practice questions a couple times,” Moore said. “Most of the way I prepared was by taking the test both years before, so I was already pretty familiar with the test questions which that helped me reason out which answers were correct.”

School academic advisor, Michelle Warkentin, is proud of Moore?s efforts and believes that he may come out with a scholarship.

“I am very proud of Daniel, and it is a true honor to be acknowledged as a semifinalist,” Warkentin said. “I am very confident in his academic achievement and status in the competition and believe he has a great chance of becoming a finalist.”

When asked if he expects to move further in the competition, Moore plans to try his best.

“I?ll do my best to advance in the competition and get a scholarship,” Moore said.

Outside of academics, Moore is involved in a wide array of activities. Through school he is involved in tennis, cross country, soccer, choir and journalism. Outside of school he enjoys reading, games and plays piano.

Although National Merit is a scholarship program, it offers much more than just an opportunity for a scholarship. Many colleges offer scholarships to students for simply being semifinalists. Students chosen for this program will also get extra recognition from colleges they apply to.

Moore has sent applications to Cal Poly, USC, UCLA, and UC Irvine for a major in mechanical engineering.

This author can be reached via Twitter: @_chloemueller. Follow The Feather via Twitter: @thefeather.

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