Hopewell and North Meck Students make National Merit Scholarship semifinals

HUNTERSVILLE – Four area seniors are semifinalists in the 56th annual National Merit Scholarship Program: Hopewell student Emily Andreoli and North Meck students Cameron Langford, Frank Molinek and Christopher Norton are among 16,000 high school seniors nationwide competing for 8,400 National Merit Scholarships, worth more than $36 million, to be awarded next spring.

The nationwide pool of semifinalists represents less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors and includes the highest scoring entrants in each state.

Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments and potential for success in rigorous college studies. More than 1.5 million high school juniors in over 22,000 high schools nationally entered the 2011 program by taking the 2009 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants.

North Meck seniors named National Achievement Scholarship semifinalists

HUNTERSVILLE – North Meck seniors Erin Williams and Erin Mack are semifinalists for National Achievement Scholarships. The National Achievement Scholarship Program is an academic competition established in 1964 to provide recognition for outstanding black American high school students.

Of the more than 160,000 students who enter the National Achievement Program each year, approximately 4,700 are honored. A group of about 3,100 outstanding participants are referred to colleges for their potential for academic success. A smaller group of about 1,600 are named semifinalists and are the only students who have an opportunity to advance in the competition for $2,500 National Achievement Scholarships.

North Meck Debate and Speech team takes first

HUNTERSVILE – The North Meck Debate and Speech team attended the Mountain Heritage High School tournament in Burnsville Saturday, Oct. 9. Competing with seven schools from western North Carolina, the team placed first overall.

Team co-president senior Brittany Wallace earned first place in both humorous interpretation and oral interpretation; junior Lauren Calucag placed second in both humorous and oral interpretation; freshman Taneisha Multrie placed third in humorous interpretation; sophomore Trikeria Johnson placed first in original oratory and second in impromptu speaking; junior Regene Williams took first in storytelling; junior Kevin Cutrara, in his debut competition, placed second in Lincoln-Douglas debate, division captain junior Andrew Hartis placed third and junior Chris Williams placed sixth; and freshmen team Madison Carr and Jay Patel placed second in public forum debate and Cortne Currie and Katy Levigne took third.

The team travels to Bob Jones Academy in Greenville, SC next weekend to face a much larger field of competitors from both North and South Carolina.