Polk County Public Schools
Six Polk public school students were named 2010 National Merit Scholarship semifinalists in a September 16 announcement by the National Merit Scholarship program. Included in the six is the first-ever National Merit semifinalist from the International Baccalaureate program at Haines City High.
Haines City High’s IB program started with the 2006-2007 school year and 2009-2010 is the first year that the school has a senior class. Henrique F. Valim, a Haines City IB senior from Winter Haven , is the school’s first-ever National Merit semifinalist.
More than 1.5 million students entered the 2010 National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). There are approximately 16,000 semifinalists. The 2010 National Merit semifinalists, including the six Polk students, represent less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors and are the highest scoring entrants in the country on the qualifying test.
National Merit finalists are announced in February 2010 and National Merit scholarship winners are announced in April, May and July of 2010.
Polk’s National Merit semifinalists are listed according to school with residence in parentheses.
Bartow International Baccalaureate: Lesley P. Ferguson (Lakeland), James W. Karson (Lakeland), Ryan J. Newell (Lakeland), Stephen A. Samples (Lakeland).
George Jenkins High: Brandon M. Azzarella (Lakeland)
Haines City International Baccalaureate: Henrique F. Valim (Winter Haven)
