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Marlette’s Schuitman named Merit semifinalist


Josie Schuitman proudly displays the announcement from the National Merit Scholarship program that she is a semifinalist for the prestigious award.

Josie Schuitman proudly displays the announcement from the National Merit Scholarship program that she is a semifinalist for the prestigious award.

MARLETTE — High school senior Josie Schuitman is in good company.

Schuitman is among 16,000 students nationwide – less than 1 percent of the nation’s high school seniors – that qualified as semifinalists in the 65th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. More than 1.5 million juniors entered the prestigious scholarship competition in the spring of 2018.

Josie, the daughter of Jamie and Kelly Dale, has the opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,600 National Merit Scholarships that will be offered in the spring of 2020.

More than 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and about half the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.

Reaching the finalist level will depend on several factors including academic record, participation in school and community activities, leadership abilities, employment, honors and awards received, an essay, and SAT or ACT scores that confirm the students’ earlier performance on the qualifying test.

Three types of Merit scholarships will be offered next spring, the $2,500 National Merit Scholarship, a corporate-sponsored Merit scholarship and a college-sponsored Merit scholarship.