Darian Rice, a senior at Broadneck High School, has been named a semifinalist in the 2015 National Achievement Scholarship program. He is the second student from Broadneck to be recognized by the prestigious National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
Semifinalists in the competition were selected from more than 160,000 students in nearly 22,000 U.S. high schools who were top scorers on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) in their junior years.
In its 51st award year, the National Achievement Scholarship recognizes high-performing and “academically-promising” African-American students from across the country. To date, more than 33,500 students have received the scholarships worth more than $105 million through the program.
With more than $2.5 million worth of scholarships at stake, about 80 percent of the semifinalists will advance to finalist status based on criteria such as academic record, recommendation by their school principal, SAT performance, and participation and leadership in school and community activities.
About 700 National Achievement Scholarships worth $2,500 each will be awarded, and an additional 100 corporate-sponsored Achievement Scholarship awards will also be given to finalists who meet specific criteria set by the sponsor accordingly.
National Achievement finalists will be announced in April.