Recently at Nazareth Academy, three students, Johnny D’Onofrio, Andrew Hammond and Mark Rizko were selected as National Merit Scholarship semi-finalists. The National Merit Scholarship Program is a competition amongst high school students for recognition and scholarships that are awarded to students with the highest scores on the Preliminary SAT.
The PSAT is divided into three sections of critical reading, mathematics and writing. A perfect score on the PSAT is 240, but a perfect score is rarely achieved. In order to learn a little more about Nazareth’s National Merit Scholarship recipients, I recently interviewed them to see how they felt about the news and what a typical school day entails for them.
Johnny D’Onofrio
Q. How did you first react when you found out that you were selected as a National Merit Scholarship finalist?
A. I was definitely excited, and also a little surprised. As I am one of only 16,000 in the country, how could I not be surprised?
Q. Would you be inclined to disclose your scores?
A. I got a 74 on Critical Reading, 70 on Mathematics, and a 75 on Writing which is a 219 overall, placing me in the 99th percentile.
Q. How much homework on average do you receive every night?
A. On average I’d say an hour or so each night.
Q. What Honors or Advanced Placement classes are you taking this year?
A. I’m taking CWI Honors, AP Physics, World Literature Honors, Italian 4 Honors, and AP Calculus AB.
Q. What do you plan on majoring in while studying in college?
A. In college I’d like to major in the liberal arts, or do a business/management-related major.
Q. What time do you go to bed on a normal school night?
A. Too late! A normal time for me is anywhere from 11:30 to 12:00 p.m.
Q. Where do you plan on applying to college?
A. My top choices of schools I’m applying to include Vanderbilt, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Stanford, and Pennsylvania State University.
Andrew Hammond
Q. How did you first react when you found out that you were selected as a National Merit Scholarship finalist?
A. I was very excited that I had been given this great honor and opportunity.
Q. How much homework on average do you receive every night?
A. That’s hard to say. Some nights I have about a half-hour of homework. Other nights I have around five hours of written work and two hours of studying.
Q. What Honors or Advanced Placement classes are you taking this year?
A. AP Physics, AP Chemistry, AP English Literature and Composition, AP Spanish, AP Calculus, and CWI Honors.
Q. What do you plan on majoring in while studying in college?
A. I plan on majoring in Chemistry.
Q. What time do you go to bed on a normal school night?
A. I usually go to bed around 11:30 p.m.
Q. Where do you plan on applying to college?
A. I plan on applying to a bunch of schools! The University of Chicago, Northwestern, and University of Illinois are my top picks out of all the ones I’m interested in.
Mark Rizko
Q. How did you first react when you found out that you were selected as a National Merit Scholarship finalist?
A. I was surprised and definitely pleased when I heard the news!
Q. How much homework on average do you receive every night?
A. Well, with this year being senior year, it’s definitely tough. I would say I average between four to five hours a night.
Q. What Honors or Advanced Placement classes are you taking this year?
A. I am enrolled in AP French, AP Chemistry, AP Calculus BC, AP English Literature and Composition, AP Biology and CWI Honors.
Q. What do you plan on majoring in while studying in college?
A. I plan to major in molecular biology or organic chemistry.
Q. What time do you go to bed on a normal school night?
A. Ideally, I go to bed around 10:30 p.m., when homework permits of course!
Q. Where do you plan on applying to college?
A. I am looking at the University of Chicago, Northwestern, and possibly an Ivy League school.
