MIHS Student Honored as National Achievement Scholarship Semifinalist

The Mercer Island School District (MISD) and National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced Wednesday that Mercer Island High School student Mark Anderson is a National Achievement Scholarship Program (NASP) semifinalist.

Anderson, 18, is a senior at MIHS and is currently considering University of California, Berkeley for college. He was also selected as a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist.

“I attended a debate camp there a few years ago and I really loved the people there,” he said. "While he doesn’t know if he will land in California, he does have a career goal “to make the world a better place for children.” 

The NASP is a privately financed academic competition created in 1964 to recognize academically promising black students throughout the nation and to provide scholarships to some of the most outstanding program participants.

“To be honored as both a National Achievement Scholarship Program and National Merit Scholarship semifinalist is a tremendous and well-deserved academic honor,” said MISD Superintendent Dr. Gary Plano. “Mark will now be recognized twice before a meeting of the Mercer Island School Board October 10." 

More than 160,000 high school juniors from all parts of the United States requested consideration in the 2014 NASP when they took the 2012 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Anderson is one of approximately 1,600 semifinalists. About 1,300 are expected to advance to the finalist level.

To date, approximately 32,700 young men and women have received Achievement Scholarship awards worth about $103 million.