Ottumwa Community School District is proud to announce Seighin McElderry, an Ottumwa High School Senior, as a semifinalist in the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program. What began as 1,300,000 entrants, pared down to 50,000 high scorers, and 34,000 of them received a letter of commendation in recognition for their outstanding academic promise. Ms. McElderry qualified as a Semifinalist and one of 16,000 high scorers, representing less than 1% of the nation’s high school graduating seniors. She has the opportunity to continue in the National Merit Scholarship Competition.
The National Merit Scholarship Program is an annual academic competition among high school students for recognition and college scholarships that began in 1955. United States high school students enter the National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which serves as an initial screen of over 1.3 million entrants
each year, and by meeting published program entry and participation requirements.
Ottumwa Schools has housed a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist in years past. The program honors individual students who show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies. Seighin is the daughter of Brad and Nan McElderry. She would like to study biology at an undecided educational institution.
