Lineup of the National Merit Semifinalists

11 MICDS Students Named National Merit Semifinalists

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced 11 MICDS students as National Merit Semifinalists in its 63rd annual scholarship program. Among those MICDS students honored for showing exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies by the National Merit Scholarship Program are:

  • Blake Abel
  • William Ball
  • Atri Bhattacharyya
  • Lucy Cadanau
  • Alexander Donovan
  • Sarah Griswold (not pictured)
  • Ella Halford
  • Nick Jones
  • Bobby Loomis (not pictured)
  • Binxuan Zhang
  • Jacqueline Zoeller

“We are thrilled to have 11 MICDS students represented among other high-achieving high school seniors across the country,” said Lisa Lyle, Head of School at MICDS. “MICDS continues to offer a rigorous, well-rounded education where we prepare leaders who will lead lives of purpose and service. These 11 students are a testament to that important work.”

With a rigorous academic curriculum and a small student to teacher ratio, MICDS is known annually for enrolling students who are named National Merit Semifinalists. When calculating test scores for the Class of 2017, the School’s mean AP composite score was 30, with a mean SAT composite score of 1350. In addition and with support from one of the nation’s leading college counseling programs, MICDS sends a larger number of students to the most competitive four-year universities than any other private school in the greater St. Louis area.

“At MICDS, our faculty and students work in tandem to help each student achieve his or her academic goals,” said Scott Small, Head of Upper School at MICDS. “These 11 students are some of the School’s best and brightest, and I’m confident that exciting things are in store for these young scholars.”

This year, the NMSC named approximately 16,000 high school seniors as semifinalists and will award some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships amounting to more than $32 million this spring. Established in 1955, NMSC is a not-for-profit organization. Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by business organizations and higher education institutions that share its goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.

These students will be honored at a special assembly in October.