Every year, 1.3 million high school students across the nation enter the National Merit Scholarship Program. Of those 1.3 million, only 16,000 are chosen as semifinalists. That’s barely over 1%.
But Park City High School Student Malachi Merrill beat those odds when he took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test last year as a junior, and he was recently named one of the selected few.
He himself was a little surprised, and Principal Roger Arbabi, his father and representatives from the district were proud of him.
“These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 6,780 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million that will be offered next spring,” the National Merit Scholarship Program stated in a press release. “About 95 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and about half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship.”
Malachi’s standing as a semifinalist also comes with some extra bragging rights. He’s one of eight siblings, and none of his five older brothers or sisters made it as far as he has in the scholarship program.
“I grew up in California. We moved to Utah when I was kind of small, and then I lived in Murray for most of my life until last year when I moved to Park City,” Malachi said.
Coming from a Latter-day Saint family, he said he hopes to get into Brigham Young University.
“I’d love to go to BYU. It’s a great school, my dad went there, my mom went there. The last few of my siblings didn’t get in, though,” he said. “Tuition is like, what, $4,000 a semester or something? … If you go to Ivy, even if I could get in, it’d still be like, what, $60,000? It’d just be a question of how I’d pay for it.”
He said he might study accounting as an undergraduate, though he said he could “go a lot of ways.”
For students preparing to take the PSAT/NMSPQT, he recommended they know what they’re good at.
“I probably should have spent more time studying the math section of it,” he said, explaining he’s better at English. “I don’t quite have the number brain. … I think everyone has a good chance to do well. Just preparation before you do it.”
When he’s not acing tests, Malachi competes on the high school’s mountain biking and soccer teams.
“We haven’t been in Park City for too long, but I’ve really appreciated the academic environment here,” said his dad, Seth Merrill. “My impression without having spent a lot of time here is just very engaged administration and teachers who are willing to help students succeed, so I’ve really appreciated the year we’ve been here.”
Seth said he’s noticed the hard work his son has put in. When studying math, a subject that doesn’t come as easily to Malachi as some others, he said he’s noticed his willingness to find a quiet place to concentrate for long stretches of time, study and work through things until he’s able to understand them.
“As a student, you have to be self-aware and recognize where you need to put in the time,” Seth said. “I’m proud of him for working so hard.”
