It was a first-ever for a Bioscience High School student and business-as-usual for students from North High who were named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists in the 2012 National Merit Scholarship Program.
Steven Alley becomes the first National Merit Semifinalist from Bioscience while Andrew Herschfelt and Steve Jozef join a long tradition of North students who have qualified as semifinalists by being among the highest-scoring entrants in Arizona in the 2010 Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT.) Alley is in the engineering pathway at Bioscience. The two North students are in the school’s International Baccalaureate Program.
The 16,000 semifinalists this year represent less than one percent of the 1.5 million juniors from over 22,000 high schools who take the PSAT. National Merit Finalists are highly coveted as prospective students to every college and university in the country, and the designation often leads to academic scholarships.
Alley becomes the first Bioscience student in the six-year history of the school to earn the prestigious recognition. He is a member of the third graduating class at the science and math-focused small school in downtown Phoenix. Alley scored a 223 (of 240 points) on his PSAT, and had a 34 composite score on his ACT last year. Alley arrived at Bioscience as an 11th grader, after attending North Canyon High School his first two years. The Laveen resident has not decided on a college, but has applied to ASU and Arizona. His brother is a sophomore who also attends Bioscience.
Herschfelt’s two favorite classes reflect his interest in engineering and music- physics and advanced concert/marching band. Herschfelt is the percussionist section leader in the band and was selected to regional band last year. He is auditioning for national and international percussion ensembles and drum corps this year, and would like to play in his college band. However, Herschfelt wants to become an engineer, like his father, and complete graduate school. He plans to attend ASU’s Barrett College, and would like to apply electrical engineering in the musical field, possibly in sound technology development or recording.
Jozef would like to use his creativity in the entertainment industry. He loves acting, and has been a cast member for five school drama productions, played guitar in Godspell and was the student director for another play. He is a member of the National Thespian Society, and has spent summers in Wisconsin, working in theatre teaching young actors. While he has always been good in math, Jozef loves writing and says he enjoys words and what they do. He placed second in a school poetry contest last year. His career goals include becoming an entertainment journalist or screenwriter, or working on the creative side of video game production. He plans to major in creative writing, and minor in film or journalism at ASU’s Barrett College.
About 90% of semi-finalists become finalists, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC.) North had six National Merit Scholar Finalists last year and three others received NMSC Letters of Commendation. Since 1990, North has had 90 National Merit Scholarship semi-finalists and finalists and 105 Commended students. This year’s Commended students have not yet been announced.
Source: Phoenix Union High School District
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