The National Merit Scholarship is an achievement that students across the country work to receive. This year, three CHS students put forth the effort and commitment needed to achieve this. Being a National Merit Semi-Finalist is an outstanding achievement, because only 16,000 students only reach Semi-Finalists each year out of millions of entrants.  The CHS Students who have earned this honor at Chesterton High School are Peyton Day, Joseph Hall, and Ethan Kroft. These young men have shown how hard they worked and how truly gifted they are.

But if you don’t know what The National Merit Society is, it’s a not-for-profit organization that is in the United States that gives students scholarships and recognition. 

     The Sandscript sat down with one of the Semi-Finalist Peyton Day, to get a view on what it was like to be a Semi-Finalist. The senior addressed being honored and recognized by a great deal of community members, “It’s rewarding to know you put in a lot of work and that you see how the work basically pays off. It’s a good example of how dedicating yourself and putting your mind to something can achieve,” Day claimed.

     Day went on to add “I can say when I first started practicing for the PSAT I didn’t do all that well. People that do well on standardized tests are not necessarily naturally smart people. It’s a lot of knowing what to look for. I would say it’s really about preparing yourself for everything you can expect and being ready for what you don’t expect.” 

     The Sandscript inquired further into Day’s comment about the PSAT Club.  Many students are unaware such a club exists, so Day gave a description.  

     “Basically what we do is each day we’ll go through a different section of the practice test and we go through them and I give them specified times for the practice tests and I give them my methodology for how I’d do it. It’s not difficult but it’s time consuming. It’s important to find the most efficient way to do every part of the test. Given unlimited time most people would be able to do pretty well but it’s the fact that you are in a time crunch,” Day stated.

These students will hopefully inspire other students to try and achieve their goals and work hard during school and be high achievers.