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Bolles’ Alailima and Gidado Named National Achievement Winners
Bolles seniors Nia Alailima and Travis Gidado have each been selected as winners of a National Achievement $2500 Scholarship. The National Achievement Scholarship Program is conducted by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. High school seniors who excel on the PSAT as juniors earn recognition from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
The National Achievement Scholarship Program is an academic competition to provide recognition for outstanding Black American high school students. More than 140,000 students entered the 2008 National Achievement Scholarship Competition by requesting consideration when they took the 2006 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test as high school juniors. In September 2007, approximately 1,600 of the highest scorers were named Semifinalists on a regional representation basis. To continue in the competition, Semifinalists had to fulfill requirements for Finalist standing, which included having a record of consistently high academic performance; being endorsed and recommended by an official of their high school; earning SAT scores that confirm their PSAT/NMSQT performance; and submitting an essay about personal interests, attainments, and goals.
Some 1,300 Semifinalists advanced to the Finalist level, and all National Achievement Scholarship winners were selected from this group of outstanding students. Achievement Scholar awardees are the Finalist candidates judged to have the strongest record of accomplishments and greatest potential for academic success in college.