WVHS seniors named finalists in National Merit Scholarship program

Congratulations to Warwick Valley High School seniors Laura Cook and Arden Hallett, who have advanced as finalists in the 67th Annual National Merit Scholarship Program. WVHS Principal Marguerite Fusco presented Laura and Arden with their Certificates of Merit from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) last week.

Approximately 15,000 students across America have advanced to finalist standing, narrowing down a nationwide pool of 16,000 semifinalists that represented less than one percent of US high school seniors. 

Both Laura and Arden have already been accepted to college and are looking forward to next fall.

Arden is off to the University of Iowa. The university provides yearly scholarships to National Merit Finalists, and the NMSC provides tuition assistance of $2,500.

“This is a great opportunity for making college more affordable,” said Arden. “I’m looking forward to majoring in actuarial science and statistics.”

Laura will be attending the University of Alabama as a mathematics major. The university awarded her a scholarship that includes five years of tuition, four years of housing, money for a semester abroad and textbooks, and a $3500 yearly merit stipend.

“I feel incredibly lucky to have been offered such an amazing scholarship from a school where I think I’ll have a great college experience,” said Laura. “It’s a really good feeling to have the work that I put in all throughout high school pay off like this. I’m beyond excited to attend the University of Alabama.”

Laura and Arden learned that they had been named as National Merit semifinalists in September this year. You can revisit that story here. The competition wraps up this spring, when the NMSC will award 7,500 National Merit Scholarships totaling nearly $30 million.

(l-r) Arden Hallett, WVHS Principal Marguerite Fusco, Laura Cook