Rebekah is the daughter of Kurt
and Alice Hinrichs of Kansas City and attends King of Kings Lutheran Church. Her
younger brother Christian is a freshman at LHSKC and her sister Caroline is a
seventh grader at Martin Luther Academy.
About 1.5 million juniors in
more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2016 National Merit Scholarship
Program by taking the 2014 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship
Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program
entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than one
percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in
each state. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportional to the
state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.
To become a
Finalist, Rebekah, along with Lutheran High School, submitted a
detailed scholarship application, providing information about her academic
record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated
leadership abilities, and honors and awards received. A Semifinalist must have
an outstanding academic record througout high school, be endorsed and
recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT® scores
that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.
From the approximately 16,000
Semifinalists, about 15,000 advance to the Finalist level. All National Merit
Scholarship winners will be selected from this group of Finalists. Merit
Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments,
and potential for success in rigorous college studies.
Three types of National Merit
Scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2016. Every Finalist will compete
for one of 2,500 National Merit® $2500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a
state-representational basis. About 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship
awards will be provided by approximately 250 corporations and business
organizations for Finalists who meet specified criteria. In addition, about 190
colleges and universities are expected to finance some 3,900 college-sponsored
Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.
National Merit Scholarship
winners of 2016 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in
April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join more than
315,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar
title.
Lutheran High School of Kansas
City commends Rebekah on this outstanding achievement. – To God Be the Glory!