Stonington High School Student a National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist

Press release provided by Stonington Public Schools

Stephen H. Murphy, Ph.D., Principal of Stonington High School announced Thursday that Matthew Fields has been named a Semifinalist in the 2014 National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC).  Matthew is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Warren Fields, 20 Mystic Hill Road in Mystic.  He is among the 16,000 Semifinalists out of more than 1.5 million students who took the PSAT in October, 2012.  Matthew will now have an opportunity to continue in the Merit Scholarship competition. 

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 Semifinalist and a school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, which includes the student’s self-descriptive essay and information about the Semifinalist’s participation and leadership in school and community activities. 

Approximately 15,000 Semifinalists will advance to the Finalist level and it is from this group that all Merit Scholarship winners will be chosen.  Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference. 

Three types of Merit Scholarship awards will be offered in 2014.  Every Finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit $2500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state representational basis.  In addition, some 240 corporations and business organizations will underwrite about 1,000 corporate-sponsored scholarships for Finalists who meet their specified criteria, such as children of the grantor’s employees or residents of communities where sponsor plants or offices are located.  Also, about 200 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 4,500 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who will attend the sponsor institution. 

Merit Scholarship winners of 2014 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July.  These scholarship recipients will join some 300,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.  

Matthew joins the following SHS alumni who garnered this distinction: Aidan Evenski (’00); Katherine Harris (’01); Stephanie Carmack (’04); Patrick Nixon and Allen Pauly (’06); Lauren Rafka (’08); Christian Rogerson (’12); and Lindsay Gimple and Audrey Jones (’13). 

Congratulations to Matthew Fields!