Emporia, Madison students are National Merit semifinalists
By Bobbi Mlynar
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Emporia and Madison high school officials have been notified that each school has a student qualified as a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist.
The students — Martin D. Hinrichs of Emporia and Joe E. McIlvain of Madison — were among approximately 16,000 students now eligible to compete for about 8,200 Merit Scholarships worth $34 million.
Hinrichs, an EHS senior, is the son of Edith and David Hinrichs.
“He’s a wonderful student, he’s just a great kid,” said Marcia Law of EHS’s enrichment services department.
Hinrichs is conscientious and takes academics and challenging courses seriously. More than that, though, Hinrichs “is one of my students that truly thinks outside the box,” Law said. “He thinks of ideas — they’re so unique and so unusual.”
Law described Hinrichs, who is interested in Web design, as “a tremendously creative person, tremendously creative.”
Hinrichs also has done volunteer work at the Lowther intermediate schools and at Turning Point Learning Center and was instrumental in an effort that resulted in Gov. Kathleen Sebelius declaring Jan. 31, 2007, as “Gifted and Talented Day in Kansas.”
“He’s the kind of a kid that will make us proud,” Law said. “... I have no doubt we’ll be hearing about him in the future.”
McIlvain, the son of Ross and Karen McIlvain, is an MHS senior.
McIlvain has a wide range of interests beyond academics and succeeds in all of them, according to Madison Superintendent Darrel Finch.
“Joe is a well-rounded student, involved in many different types of activities. He excels at all of them,” Finch said. “He works hard to reach that level of excellence in music and in sports and in academics. He’s just a pleasure to have in school.”
Announcements of Hinrichs’ and McIlvain’s accomplishments in reaching semifinalist status were made today at their respective schools.
About 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to become finalists, according to information from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. About half of the finalists will be selected as Merit Scholarship winners. A total of 2,500 National Merit $2,500 scholarships will be provided by 300 corporations and business organizations. Approximately 200 colleges and universities also will finance about 4,600 additional college-sponsored Merit Scholarships for finalists who attend the sponsoring institution.
More than 1.4 million high school juniors entered the 2008 National Merit Program nationwide, the news release stated.