Two Fayette County High and two Whitewater High School students are among 700 nationwide receiving National Achievement Scholarships through the 2010 National Achievement Scholarship Program, a competition for African American high school students.
Helen M. Agha and Ifeanyi O. Awachie, both of Fayette County High, and Alana L. Davis and Omoyemen O. Osehobo, both of Whitewater High, are all recipients of a $2,500, single payment scholarship, which can be used for undergraduate study at any regionally accredited U.S. college or university. Helen plans to major in computer engineering, Ifeanyi’s probable major is journalism/law, Alana is looking into pharmacy and Omoyemen is planning a career in obstetrics/gynecology.
More than 160,000 students entered the 2010 National Achievement Program by requesting consideration when they took the 2008 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) as high school juniors. In September 2009, approximately 1,600 of the highest scorers were named semifinalists on a regional basis. To continue in the competition, semifinalists had to fulfill requirements for finalist standing, which included having a record of consistently high academic performance, being endorsed and recommended by an official of their high school, earning SAT scores that confirm the PSAT/NMSQT performance and submitting an essay about personal interests, attainments and goals.
Approximately 1,300 semifinalists advanced to the finalist level. Achievement Scholar awardees are the finalist candidates judged to have the strongest record of accomplishments and greatest potential for college academic success.