2020 National Merit semifinalists in DC

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know why the semifinalists in dc have not been published? In the past, lists of semifinalists and commended have been published. Is it because DCPS or charters had no semifinalists?

[Anonymous]

Whether it's published or not is up to the local media. WaPo never does. In recent years the DC winners have been listed Patch DC.

For whatever reason, the Natl Merit organization only releases to media and schools. It does not post on its website.

[Anonymous]

No need to add stress by naming kids who don't make it. It's not like the Oscars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No need to add stress by naming kids who don't make it. It's not like the Oscars.

Do you mean by naming semifinalists? They have been announced everywhere except in DC. If my child received the honor, I would like for him to be recognized - he has worked amazingly hard as a student and is quite modest but it would be nice for someone to appreciate it, just like for athletes and other kinds of honors. Is it a policy decision not to announce for DC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No need to add stress by naming kids who don't make it. It's not like the Oscars.

Do you mean by naming semifinalists? They have been announced everywhere except in DC. If my child received the honor, I would like for him to be recognized - he has worked amazingly hard as a student and is quite modest but it would be nice for someone to appreciate it, just like for athletes and other kinds of honors. Is it a policy decision not to announce for DC?

No. Read the post above.

The NMSF sends press releases to media across the country. Ask the Washington Post, DCist and the City Paper why they don’t publish them. They also don’t publish the NMSF finalists or winners. DC is not singled out or treated differently by the NMSF people. Our media does not think it is newsworthy.

Sometimes schools announce in their newsletters or student papers. Ask your school why they aren’t sharing the names.

Congrats to your kid OP.

[Anonymous]

The paper version of the Northwest Courier has the list. 39 students from DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No need to add stress by naming kids who don't make it. It's not like the Oscars.

Do you mean by naming semifinalists? They have been announced everywhere except in DC. If my child received the honor, I would like for him to be recognized - he has worked amazingly hard as a student and is quite modest but it would be nice for someone to appreciate it, just like for athletes and other kinds of honors. Is it a policy decision not to announce for DC?

Semifinalists are based entirely on performance on one standardized test, the PSAT, so it's hardly the culmination of a career of hard work as a student. It's also a test that is highly teachable and gamable. It shows little about the quality of the education but rather what schools focus on test prep.

Signed, a NMS semifinalist.

[Anonymous]

Wilson had one. Walls had one. Latin had one. Tough year for everyone

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The paper version of the Northwest Courier has the list. 39 students from DC.

Actually, 39 kids who attend DC schools. NMS does it based on where the school is, not where the student lives. Since many of those kids are in private school I'd expect many to live in the suburbs. The list also excludes DC kids who go to schools in the suburbs.

[Anonymous]

can someone post the list?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No need to add stress by naming kids who don't make it. It's not like the Oscars.

Do you mean by naming semifinalists? They have been announced everywhere except in DC. If my child received the honor, I would like for him to be recognized - he has worked amazingly hard as a student and is quite modest but it would be nice for someone to appreciate it, just like for athletes and other kinds of honors. Is it a policy decision not to announce for DC?

Semifinalists are based entirely on performance on one standardized test, the PSAT, so it's hardly the culmination of a career of hard work as a student. It's also a test that is highly teachable and gamable. It shows little about the quality of the education but rather what schools focus on test prep.

Signed, a NMS semifinalist.

You're painting with too broad a brush, PP. The PSAT says plenty about the quality of the education (not just that delivered by schools, but from self-directed reading and study), whether or not test prep is in the mix. I was a NMS semifinalist coming from a school ranked in the bottom quarter in my state, without any real test prep. I simply loved to read growing up, and must have had a little math savvy. I attended an Ivy on a full Pell Grant. Being a semifinalist couldn't have hurt me in college admissions. I don't think that the PSAT is an important test, or a bad one either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wilson had one. Walls had one. Latin had one. Tough year for everyone

DC has the highest cutoff score of any state (tied with Massachusetts). The NMS is based on where kids go to school, not where they live, and cutoff scores are based on a certain percentage. DC has a lot of private schools that serve the whole region, and those schools dominate the semifinalists. So it's tougher for kids who live in DC to qualify than it would be otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wilson had one. Walls had one. Latin had one. Tough year for everyone

DC has the highest cutoff score of any state (tied with Massachusetts). The NMS is based on where kids go to school, not where they live, and cutoff scores are based on a certain percentage. DC has a lot of private schools that serve the whole region, and those schools dominate the semifinalists. So it's tougher for kids who live in DC to qualify than it would be otherwise.

Actually, I seem to recall hearing that DC is automatically set to be whatever the highest qualifying score is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wilson had one. Walls had one. Latin had one. Tough year for everyone

DC has the highest cutoff score of any state (tied with Massachusetts). The NMS is based on where kids go to school, not where they live, and cutoff scores are based on a certain percentage. DC has a lot of private schools that serve the whole region, and those schools dominate the semifinalists. So it's tougher for kids who live in DC to qualify than it would be otherwise.

Actually, I seem to recall hearing that DC is automatically set to be whatever the highest qualifying score is.

It is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:can someone post the list?

2020 D.C. Student Semifinalists

Basis School: Lena E. Cavicchia
Field School: Annika Torng
Georgetown Day High School: William E. Finkelstein, Natasha Zimmermann
Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School: Kiera E. Dent, Cecelia A. Swartz
Gonzaga High School: James C. Garland, Joshua D. Pfefferkorn
Maret School: Kathryn S. Hahm, Claiborne H. Hartman
National Cathedral School: Elizabeth A. Borgmann, Sophia A. Charles, Amelia M. Giffin, Audrey E. May, Iris Wu
School Without Walls: Aryaman Arora
Sidwell Friends School: Curran Chopra, Kiran A. Deol, Benjamin T Fagell, Henry Fant, Ishaan Kumar, Aleksandr P. Kuzmenchuk, Gillian M. La Vina, Harris N. Panner, Luke H. Primis, Joe H. Schwabacher, Mihir Singh, Nicholas Spasojevic, Timothy A. Ward
St. Albans School: Matthew A. Chalk, David A. Hla, Nolan W. Musslewhite,William G. Nash, Yash S. Somaiya, Constantine G. Tsibouris
St. Anselm's Abbey School: Antoni W. Wellisz
Washington International School: Joshua J. Roberts
Washington Latin Charter School: Benjamin Weinberger
Woodrow Wilson High School: Gabrielle S. Aladjem