(MCS) — Mount Carmel School congratulates and proudly recognizes one of her students, Eunkyu “Joey” Hong for being selected as a semifinalist — the only one from the CNMI — for the esteemed National Merit Scholarship Program.
The NMSP is an annual academic competition among high school students for recognition and college scholarships that began in 1955. Students throughout the U.S. enter the competition by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
Among a pool of 1.3 million student entrants, the NMSP selected 16,000 outstanding students to be semifinalists. Joey and the rest of the semifinalist cohort now have the opportunity to be awarded 7,250 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28 million that will be offered next spring. According to the NMSP in a recent press release, “about 95% of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and approximately half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar@ title.
Upon hearing the news, Joey himself said “I am honored to have made it this far in the process and am grateful to all my teachers and my parents for supporting me in my studies. Being a semifinalist reaffirms to me that hard work matters and pays off.
School administrators were also eager to celebrate Joey’s accomplishment with MCS Principal Filmah Buenaflor saying “we are tremendously proud of Joey for his efforts to pursue such a prestigious achievement. We hope that he continues moving forward in the selection process as he continually proves to be a motivated and capable student — a true exemplar of a Knight.”
The NMSP will deliberate in the coming months and will formally announce the National Merit Scholarship Program Finalists in February 2024. We wish the best of luck to Joey and the many other qualified student semifinalists for this year’s cohort of the NMSP.
Eunkyu “Joey” Hong
