5 Altamont School seniors named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists

Five seniors at The Altamont School in Birmingham — Hannah Ashraf, Lilla Carroll, Robert Pritchard, Tyler Walley and Maaz Zuberi — were recently named semifinalists in the 66th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

These seniors at Altamont join 16,000 other high-school seniors around the United States in receiving this honor, but that number represents less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors, according to a news release from Laine Williams, the school’s director of communication.

By becoming semifinalists, the seniors at Altamont now have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $30 million that will be offered in spring 2021.

“I am very grateful to have the opportunity to be a semifinalist,” Ashraf told Iron City Ink. She is considering a college major in cellular biology.

“I am really thankful, and the scholarship opportunity is exciting,” said Zuberi, who added that he was “pretty surprised” to learn that he had become a semifinalist.

Zuberi would like to study business and computer engineering in college, perhaps through an interdisciplinary program.

Like Zuberi, Carroll was “initially very surprised to hear” that she was a semifinalist, she said.

Due to the “academic chaos” that stemmed from the COVID-19 pandemic this spring, Carroll said she had forgotten about the National Merit Scholarships.

“Being a semifinalist is a great recognition and culmination of the work that I’ve put into school over the past few years,” she said.

Gender studies and political science are the college majors that Carroll is strongly considering, though she might also wish to do some work in environmental science.

Pritchard, who plans to study computer science in college, said that his selection as a semifinalist shows “that a lot can be achieved if you are willing to put in the work.”

Walley said he is “very proud” to have been chosen and that the achievement “represents hard work.”

Walley also expressed his gratitude.

“I’m especially reminded of the privilege I have and opportunities I’ve been afforded,” he said.

Over 1.5 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2019 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as the initial screen of program entrants.

The nationwide pool of semifinalists includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state.

For more information about the school, visit altamontschool.org.