By Tess Malijenovsky

For the past four years, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation has recognized one or more Beaufort Academy seniors as semifinalists. This year was no exception for academic excellence. Michael Bible is the only National Merit Semifinalist chosen in Beaufort.
The National Merit Scholarship is a prestigious award granted to the highest scorers of the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Tests — a standardized test that high school students across the country take. However, out of more than 1.5 million students, only 16,000 students will become National Merit Semifinalists like Michael. Michael’s high scoring achievement essentially represents less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors.
“Michael is indeed academically talented and has earned a high A average taking a multitude of honors courses throughout his high school years at Beaufort Academy. He is also an outstanding athlete, winning state swimming championships over the last three years,” said Interim Head of School, Julie Corner. “Beaufort Academy is honored to have Michael as a semifinalist in this prestigious organization and has high hopes that he will go on to even greater recognition.”
Michael is now in the running to become a National Merit Finalist. Come this spring, he has the chance to receive one of the 8,300 National Merit Scholarships granted annually.