Bella Lee

Three Culver Academies students have been selected as finalists for the National Merit Scholarship Program. Announced as finalists during Wednesday’s academic convocation were Bella Lee (Darian, Ill.), Nicholas Payne (Jonesville, Mich.), and Shaun Schneider (Pittsboro, N.C.). They are the only three students selected from the boarding school district that includes 24 schools from 10 states.

Lee, Payne, and Schneider are now part of the 15,000 remaining seniors who will compete for National Merit Scholarships of $2,500, corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarships, and college-sponsored Merit Scholarships. The winners will be selected based on their academic records, information about the school’s curricula and grading system, two sets of test scores, high school officials’ written recommendations, information of the student’s activities and leadership, and each finalist’s own essay.

Shaun Schneider

Scholarship winners will be notified beginning in March and continuing through mid-June. Approximately 8,000 finalists will receive awards.

Finalists are selected from a pool of 16,000 semifinalists who are selected from a pool of 34,000 commended scholars. Culver had 10 commended scholars. Commended Scholars are selected from the 50,000 highest scores on the PSAT/NMSQT, which is taken by 1.5 million students across the nation.