Malia Riggs
Elmore Autauga News
Amelia Cantwell, a Prattville High School senior was named a National Merit Finalist in the 69th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Cantwell represents less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, approximately 15,000 students across the country, that produced exceptional SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) testing scores.
Now that Cantwell has been selected as a finalist, she competes with around 7,000 other students throughout the U.S for scholarship opportunities as a National Merit Finalist. Those scholarships total to about $20-30 million between the 7,140 students nationwide.
“She’s become a figure in our school that students look up to and aspire to be. We have lots of students that aspire to be national merit scholars and are right on the cusp. It’s great because it highlights not only Amelia and her accomplishments but also Prattville High School. Amelia has such a diverse background with all the places that she’s lived and we’re just really thankful to have her here in Prattville,” Principal of Prattville High School Doctor Daniel Farris said.
The National Merit Scholarship winners will be announced at the beginning of April all the way through July. If selected, Cantwell will be the first Merit Scholar at Prattville High School.
About 21,000 high schools and over 1.3 million students entered the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the SAT or the PSAT, which serves as the initial screening. To advance from a semifinalist to a finalist, Catwell met additional requirements of high academic achievement.
Requirements such as having a high academic performance in college prep course work, Cantwell confirmed she has taken 14 advance placements, or AP, classes within her high school academic career. Other requirements Cantwell met was also having exceptional SAT or ACT scores, as well as submission of a detailed essay that provided the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, NMSC, selection committee a detailed description of her extracurricular activities, leadership positions, employment as well as accolades.
Cantwell stated that she owes her success to her family for their unwavering support and her teachers for helping her prepare for this entire process, while also confessing that she still gets nervous while taking standardized tests.
“Being selected, it means a lot. It’s less so about the money, but it is a nice incentive. Going through this process has made me feel really fortunate. I have so many people to thank for this, but I do work pretty hard and so it’s nice to see that pay off,” Cantwell said.
However, Cantwell’s high school experience is a bit different than what most students in the U.S. experience. Her first two years of her high school career were spent in Sicily, Italy, attending Sigonella High School where her Brigadier General father was stationed.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to have great teachers in all the schools I’ve attended and been really supportive in both Italy and here. It’s been quite different compared to most people in my grade. I think most people have gotten to live here their entire life. So coming in I felt like almost an outsider. But over time I’ve found my place here and the experience has been overwhelmingly positive,” Cantwell said.
Cantwell also participates in track and field and cross country and participated in athletics in Italy. Cantwell was a member of the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium and earned a Certificate of Merit in Italian.
“I think being in athletics has made me more persistent and determined. When I first started running I could barely make it a lap around the track. I’m very grateful to my cross country coach in Italy because he really helped me build that mindset of sticking to something and staying determined,” Cantwell said.
With her two years at Prattville High School Catwell has participated as a member of the Speech and Debate and Science Olympiad teams, has been inducted into the school’s Beta Club and the National Honor Society.
“Part of me wants to do work in research. I’m very interested in the intersection of math and politics. I’ve seen some experiments where they’ll use statistical models to analyze which areas have been gerrymandered and then that work has been used in different court cases, and that interests me a lot,” Cantwell said.
In the near future Cantwell is still undecided on where she will attend her higher education, however Duke or Princeton University are both in the running of possibilities.
