Dane County Boasts 18 National Merit Scholars

National Merit Scholarship Corporation:

The National Merit® Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955. High school students enter the National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®)–a test which serves as an initial screen of approximately 1.4 million entrants each year–and by meeting published program entry/participation requirements.
Student Entry Requirements
To participate in the National Merit® Scholarship Program, a student must:

  1. take the PSAT/NMSQT® in the specified year of the high school program and no later than the third year in grades 9 through 12, regardless of grade classification or educational pattern;
  2. be enrolled full time as a high school student, progressing normally toward graduation or completion of high school, and planning to enroll full time in college no later than the fall following completion of high school; and
  3. be a citizen of the United States; or be a U.S. lawful permanent resident (or have applied for permanent residence, the application for which has not been denied) and intend to become a U.S. citizen at the earliest opportunity allowed by law.

Press Release PDF:

This year’s competition for National Merit Scholarships began in October 2006 when more than 1.4 million juniors in over 21,000 high schools took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Last fall, the highest-scoring participants in each state, representing less than one percent of the state’s seniors, were named Semifinalists on a state representational basis.
Only the 16,000 Semifinalists had an opportunity to continue in the competition. Approximately 15,000 Semifinalists met the very high academic standards and other requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. By the conclusion of the 2008 program, about 8,200 Finalists will earn the “Merit Scholar” title and receive a total of more than $36 million in college scholarships. NMSC, a not-for-profit corporation that operates without government assistance, was founded in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. The majority of scholarships offered each year are underwritten by approximately 500 independent corporate and college sponsors that share NMSC’s goals of honoring scholastically talented youth and enhancing their educational opportunities.
CAUTION: Any attempt to compare high schools on the basis of numbers of Merit Scholarship winners will lead to erroneous and unsound conclusions. The National Merit Scholarship Program honors individual students who show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies. The program does not measure the quality or effectiveness of education within a school, system, or state.

The Capital Times:

Local scholarship winners are:
Seth B. Mulhall, Deerfield High School, Deerfield; Meredith L. Kremer, DeForest Area High School, DeForest; Aaron L. Owen, DeForest Area High School, DeForest.
Joseph K. Carlsmith, West High School, Madison; Sara C. Crocker, West High School, Madison; Erika A. Egner, James Madison Memorial High School, Madison; Reuben F. Henriques, West High School, Madison; Kelsey E. Johnson, Memorial High School, Madison.
Lucas Manuelli, West High School, Madison; Daniel T. Neuser, East High School, Madison; Richard K. Pang, West High School, Madison; Eleanor Shoshany Anderson, La Follette High School, Madison; Alexandro E. Trevino, Memorial High School, Madison.
Benjamin H. Witkovsky, West High School, Madison; Eleanor M. Wroblewski, West High School, Madison; Mary Q. Zhang, West High School, Madison.
Aubrey E. Lauersdorf, Monona Grove High School, Monona; Michael Bethencourt, home school, Mount Horeb.

Congratulations to the students and their families.

12 thoughts on “Dane County Boasts 18 National Merit Scholars”

  1. I am glad for these students and their success. However I wonder how much of the MMSD students’ success can be attributed to MMSD curriculum. I would love to know how many of these kids received supplemental education in the form of tutoring and other non-MMSD education. With diminishing challenge available from MMSD schools, I have a hard time believing it possible for these kids to have the level of knowledge required to do well on the tests unless they got their true education elsewhere.
    And unfortunately curriculum and choices for textbooks are currently being dummied down even further so if any of these kids actually DID reach their level of success via MMSD training, how likely is it for there to be as many successes in the next 10 years?

  2. Realist:
    You raise a good point, but I’ve long been struck by this fact when it comes to folks assessing schools (not just MMSD, but all public schools). That is, I sometimes find people making your argument at the same time that people criticize schools for their failure to — citing one example — have all students reading at grade level by the end of 3rd grade (maybe the single most important thing schools ought to accomplish in terms of academic achievement).
    Now, I think schools bear the primary responsibily for making sure all kids can read by 3rd grade, but some don’t, and for some of those kids, the primary reasons are factors outside the school’s control. Some is that increasing numbers of poor children don’t have access to the same kind of resources that others do. Some of it, frankly, is bad parenting. I’d argue districts ought to move heaven and Earth to fill in those gaps, but there are limits to what districts can do (fiscal limits, political limits, teaching limits).
    By the same token, I’d argue the students mentioned who have earned the National Merit scholarships haven’t done so (save for the one home-schooler) in a vacuum — they have attended those schools for a meaningful amount of time, and surely those schools have done something right for those students (whether it’s effective teaching, strong curriculum, effective assessments tied to teaching and curriculum). I don’t doubt that most if not all of those students have been helped by strong and caring parents, actively engaged in their child’s education, with strong expectations and access to things like books, culture and — yes, maybe even college-prep learning centers — beyond the walls of the schools.
    My larger point: I wouldn’t be quick to discredit any of the school district’s roles in helping these students achieve this level of success; it’s a pretty rigorous one. On the other hand, it’s entirely fair to look closely at both the successes and failures of students to find out exactly why they are doing well, or not.

  3. Speaking as the parent of one of the West HS honorees —
    This year’s West seniors are a tiny bit ahead of most of the curricular erosion you describe. For example, although they were assigned to an SLC as incoming freshmen, only their 9th grade experience was affected by the SLC restructuring, and perhaps only minimally. (e.g., my son only had one 9th grade class with his SLC.) These seniors did not have to take English 10; it was implemented their junior year.
    All that said, of the 8 West Scholars, at least 2 went to private school K-8. (The test that determines National Merit status is taken in the fall of 11th grade.) And most if not all of the 8 have participated in academically-oriented extra-curricular activities — e.g., Math Team, Science Olympiad, Latin Club, etc. Three of them were heavy participants in Future Problem Solvers in middle school; 2 of the 8 still do FPS! I am not aware that any of the ones I know had any kind of tutoring along the way, though many of them have parents with Ph.D.’s.
    These students have had some truly excellent teachers while at West, and in all curricular areas. Sadly, many (not all, but many) of those teachers have either retired or moved. One of my own concerns about Ed Holmes’s unilateral decision to get rid of the Writing Lab is the impact it will have on West’s English Department, in terms of loss of faculty and/or courses.
    But your point remains an excellent one. I predict a decline in this number in the coming years, if for no other reason than many academically-oriented families are leaving the District (or at least the West attendance area). I know MANY parents of current elementary and middle school students who have made the decision to leave or who are seriously contemplating same.
    Sadly, the Administration remains in denial about “bright flight.” And our East side BOE members tell me “West parents have nothing to complain about.”

  4. I would like to add to my comment that many of the current West seniors (and this may well hold for other classes and other schools) are part of a truly phenomenal peer group. They are incredibly engaged, intellectually; incredibly supportive of one another; they care passionately about the world beyond their school; they are not particularly competitive (contrary to stereotype); etc. Oh, and they’re hard-working!
    Just want to give them credit for their own accomplishment.

  5. To add to Laurie’s comments and address Realist’s concerns, I’d point out that many of the West students benefited from being able to take an advanced math curriculum at Hamilton middle school – an option that is being threatened with elimination, and I would expect that we will see a decline in National Merit finalists and semi-finalists as this district continues to chip away at high-end/challenging learning opportunities.

  6. In 2004 Eagle graduated 21 8th graders. Eight of them are national merit semifinalists this year, and 3 are among the national merit scholars listed above.
    I think it’s probably safe to say that the parents of these students recognized when they were young that they were outstanding students and did whatever they could to help them achieve their potential. In some cases that meant sending them to private school. Most of them likely had many extracurricular enrichment experiences. At least one of the semifinalists I know is a gifted actor in a local youth theater group, for example.
    I don’t think that it is possible to turn anyone into a National Merit Scholar. But it probably is possible to tip things one way or the other for students who have the potential. There are certainly some students who could have been on this list given a different set of supports, but aren’t. Many students are discouraged by years and years of roadblocks to their progress. The direction in which MMSD is heading is quite discouraging to our brightest students and their families.

  7. Perhaps the mark of a high quality district is its ability to produce top academic achievers who come from families in which private education is not affordable, and who have only been able to take advantage of extra-curricular activities that are offered by the schools. It is not surprising that some families with early acheivers selected private programs with other early acheivers, or that those early achievers continued to do well as they continued their educations into high school. Nor is it surprising that many of the merit scholars participated in extra-curricular activities that were academically oriented. Surely it is not just MMSD students who seek out extra-curricular opportunities. Don’t students who attend Eagle and other private programs participate in a extra-curricular activities too?

  8. Celeste, I think you raise an important point. There are quite likely a number of students in this district who could have been NMSF’s if there had been programs and supports in place. Having known some of these students since kindergarten, I am not surprised by their outstanding success. They were intellectually curious, already academically advanced, and engaged and enthusiastic students. What I am struck by are the students whom are not on the list, students whom I would have predicted back then would go on to become NMSF’s. Perhaps I’m just being a half empty glass sort of person and not appreciating regression to the mean, but I see that as our community’s loss.

  9. Yes, students in private programs also participate in extracurriculars. But in my case, at least, being in a school with a good solid academic program eases the pressure to pack in a lot of academic extras. We still do, but it’s more relaxed. If the kids want to take fencing and cartooning, that’s great. Spend all summer swimming, kicking a ball, and reading Tin Tin and Donald Duck-no problem. I don’t feel like I need to teach extra math after school, be sure the kids take science-oriented camps, and so forth. I let them know of various opportunities, and they can choose what they like, or choose to do nothing if they need down time. When we were in public school and it seemed that so much time was wasted, I felt much more anxious about the extracurriculars. The learning opportunities available in, say, a trip to DC, were taken much more seriously.
    My reference to children lacking programs and supports was unclear. I was thinking of all sorts of children. There are those whose parents are unaware of their children’s abilities and of all the ways they could help their children develop. Many of these children are from extremely poor backgrounds, but not all. I know of adults from middle class non-intellectual backgrounds who feel like their parents didn’t introduce them to the world properly with all the possibilities. Maybe they found their way eventually, but the outcome isn’t quite what it could have been. In other families, parents may be acutely aware of their children’s abilities and of various activities they would wish to have them join, but they may be unable to afford it. Income a bit too high for scholarships, but not much left over for extras. A lot of these activities are pricey. Unfortunately, not many are publicly funded. It is too bad that the public schools are just dropping the ball on educating TAG children. For too many talented kids, the stimulation they would get in a good gifted program would be the best and maybe only support they could have. Without that, we lose so many of them.
    It’s ironic that public schools are pretty comfortable dropping gifted programs because it seems to them like just more programs for the elite. In fact, while higher income families may be happy to take advantage of a good program, the children hurt most by its elimination are the less well off. Those who have enough money will find a way, somehow, to get their children what they need, albeit with increased stress levels. But those who can’t afford it will do without.
    School officials might say I’m being disingenuous, as there are so few low-SES kids in these programs that the presence or absence of a gifted program has no effect on them. I say first of all, what about the lower middle class kids who are represented somewhat in these classes, and second of all, that the correct response to this inequity is to figure out a way to get these kids into the gifted classes early, early as possible before we lose them, not eliminate the programs. It’s just mind-boggling that people think it’s a perfectly good strategy to just examine all the programs, and any time you see inequitable enrollment, it’s ‘off with their heads!’

  10. At last night’s MMSD BOE meeting, the topic of the 1.5 size specials in elementary was intensely discussed. Art Rainwater became rather…ah, emotional, and one of the things he said was that MMSD MUST be doing something right because this year they had more National Merit Semi-Finalists than ever before. I hear this sort of thing fairly often from MMSD administrators justifying claims of what a great school district we have. It seems like a reasonable thing for them to say, but something about it must be wrong. I wonder what the NMSF and families think of this claim.

  11. I’m sure they are doing something right at each school. I don’t understand what recent increases elementary arts class sizes has to do with High School achievement though. Also, being a merit scholar is an individual acheivement, not a district one. Not everyone takes the test so how can that be an academic measure for the district?

  12. Celeste,
    Do you think you could speak a bit more about the “what” and the “how” regarding what you prefer in the private school programs you are writing about? I’m particularly interested in those programs/services/approaches that you feel could be offered, but aren’t in the context of our public schools given demographics, money, etc.
    Some of the critiques I hear people make have to do with factors that are completely outside of district control, others seem to me to be areas in which the district has some control and could make improvements. What do you see? What are you getting in a private setting that you think the district could be capable of providing if it chose to do so?

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