CARIBOU, Maine — Caribou High School Senior Owen Martin was recently selected as a semifinalist in the National Merit Scholarship Program, an annual competition which recognizes and awards students who qualify.
The National Merit Scholarship Corp. was established in 1955 as a non-profit, and aims to “identify and honor academically talented U.S. high school students,” to support their education, and to manage organizations “who wish to sponsor college undergraduate scholarships.”
Martin qualified for the scholarship last October after scoring above the cutoff for the state of Maine.
“For becoming a semi-finalist, it’s based solely on your PSAT/NMSQT [Preliminary Scholastic Assessment Test/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test] scores. You get one score on your PSAT and then they also give you a score,” Martin said.
The cutoff NMSQT score to qualify in Maine is 218, and Martin scored 219. These scores not only take PSAT scores into account, but also assess a variety of factors related to the region of each student, such as the level and expectations of public funding in each state.
While Martin knew his score was above the mark to become a semifinalist last year, he had to wait nearly an entire year before learning he was accepted as a semifinalist in September.
“It was a long wait to find out,” he said. “So I kind of put it out of my mind. Then this school year started up and I got called down to the office one day in early September. They gave me the letter, and it said I was a National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist. I was very, very excited to hear that.”
For a high school senior, the semifinalist title can lead to thousands of dollars worth of scholarships.
Martin, who has a proclivity for mathematics, is hoping to pursue a degree in engineering, and said he was particularly interested in the University of Maine at Orono’s program.
“I spoke to a [UMaine] admissions person,” he said, “and they told me they made offers for full tuition to semifinalists. That was the biggest reason why I was excited about finding out, because I’m going to be saving a lot of money.”
While Martin is primarily considering UMaine at Orono, he said he also plans to apply to some other engineering schools across the country such as Stanford University and the California Institute of Technology “just to see how it turns out.”
He said he would like to specifically focus on mechanical engineering, as he “really enjoys the mathematics and physics aspect of engineering.”
“Through some of the engineering experiences I’ve gotten to take part in through GT at UMO,” he said, “I know that I enjoy that kind of work, and I have a feeling that in college I’ll have even more opportunities to look around and see what I like.”
Currently, Owen’s favorite classes are AP physics, advanced chemistry, and science, all taught by Jamie Bell, a teacher Martin says “has been pretty awesome” throughout his high school career.
Looking ahead, qualifying as a semifinalist will provide Martin with significant financial assistance regardless of which university he chooses to attend.
“There are a lot of scholarship opportunities offered by colleges that are separate from the National Merit Scholarship,” he said, “and they’re given out just for students classified as National Merit Scholarship semifinalists.”
