Originally posted on February 12, 2024.

Elijah Walker was in the middle of his sixth-period Calculus class at Boswell High School when principal Vaughn Flagler and academic principal Jaime Morgan walked in.

 "I think we were all wondering why they walked in," Walker said. Then, they announced to the class the very special news. They had just learned that Walker had been named a National Merit Scholarship Finalist.

Joining him in this prestigious honor are fellow Boswell senior Carrie Boss and Chisholm Trail High School senior Elliott Seutter.

"I didn’t think I would get it," Boss said. "I'm just proud that working so hard was worth it. I feel like it will give me more confidence in what I can do moving forward." 

The National Merit Scholarship Program is one of the most highly regarded academic competitions in the United States, honoring students who excel on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).

Approximately 1.5 million students take the PSAT each year, with only about 15,000 advancing to the Finalist round. These students are then invited to compete for scholarship awards totaling over $30 million. Finalists represent the highest-scoring students in each state.

"I feel proud that I was able to achieve this because it’s a very small portion of high school students. It helps with college applications, and it makes me proud that everything I’ve done is worth it," said Walker, who plans to study computer science in college.

Seutter shared a similar experience, recalling the moment he received his certificate. "Dr. McCowan called me down and gave me the parchment. I was pretty excited. It is a culmination of a lot of hard work and I’m super proud of the achievement."

Seutter plans to pursue a doctorate in physics and become a researcher.

"This achievement comes from a lot of study hours and hard work," he said. "It's about putting in work behind the scenes to make sure you do well on the test and the essays."

He also recognizes the impact of his teachers on his academic journey.

"I think a lot of my teachers have encouraged me to be academically interested. Even when I was a freshman a lot of my teachers were stressing the importance of academics and pushing me to be more academically minded," he said.

Boss agreed that the world-class educators in EMS ISD have a played a major role in her success.

"I've had very good teachers."

She also pinpoints another simple, but important, reason for her success.

"I paid attention in class."

Boss plans to pursue a degree in music education and plans to become an elementary music teacher. She hopes younger students will look to her, Elijah and Elliott for inspiration.

"I think us being named National Merit Scholarship Finalists will help other students know it’s more attainable, and they will reach for this," she said.

We are #EMSproud of Carrie Boss, Elliott Seutter and Elijah Walker for being named National Merit Scholarship Finalists.