Petersburg High School Senior Named National Merit Scholarship Finalist
Taylor Nichols Achieves Finalist Status

Taylor Nichols, a Petersburg High School Senior, was recently named a Finalist in the 2010 National Merit Scholarship Program. Approximately 15,000 Semifinalists were involved in the selection process in the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. The list of Finalists were announced on February 2 by officials of National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

Taylor and approximately 15,000 other scholastically talented high school seniors who were selected as Finalists have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,200 Merit Scholarship awards. Scholarship winners will be announced in the spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, students must fulfill several requirements and advance to the Finalist level of the competition. Approximately half of the Finalists will be selected as Merit Scholarship winners, earning the Merit Scholar title.

All winners of Merit Scholarship® awards (Merit Scholar® designees) are chosen from the Finalist group, based on their abilities, skills, and accomplishments–without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference. A variety of information is available for selectors to evaluate–the Finalist's academic record, information about the school`s curricula and grading system, two sets of test scores, school official`s written recommendation, information about the student`s activities and leadership, and the Finalist`s own essay.

More than 1.5 million juniors in nearly 21,000 U.S. high schools originally entered the 2010 National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/ National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, which represents less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest scoring entrants in each state.

To become a Finalist, a Semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout the high school years, be endorsed and recommended by the school principal, and earn SAT scores that confirm the student`s earlier qualifying test performance. The student must also submit a self-descriptive essay and information about participation and leadership in school and community activities.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation is a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was founded in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

Taylor, the daughter of Joey and Sydney Nichols of Petersburg, serves as senior class vice president, vice president of the student council, FCCLA president, and is member of the National Honor Society.  She also participates in cross country, track and basketball, where she has earned all district honors on a team that has advanced to the playoffs each of the past four years.  Taylor is an active member of the Main Street Church of Christ in Petersburg.  She plans to attend either Texas Tech University or Abilene Christian University and major in pre-med.