JACKSON TWP — Several 12th-grade students at Seneca Valley Senior High School were recognized by board directors for their academic performance in the 70th Annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
Seniors Eric Chen and Ophelia Crano were named semifinalists in the program and joined commended students Sydney Brower, Gavin Helmsen, Rohin Jayaraman and Patrick Monahan at a school board meeting Monday, Oct. 7.
Over 1.3 million juniors in more than 21,000 high schools entered the program, and semifinalists represent less than 1% of high school seniors in the United States.
Monday evening, students discussed preparing for the program and taking the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, and also shared their thoughts on reading requirements.
Students said while the structure of online tests is preferable to paper, they preferred reading physical books over online material.
“There’s just more gravity to paper,” Sydney told the school board. “... when you sit down with a book, you do it intentionally.”
Patrick said he believes students should have more choice in which novels they read and research in schools, and that literature offerings should take reading level — not just age appropriateness — into consideration.
“So folks who want to excel in the reading skills have that ability, as opposed to just being limited to what’s already in the library,” he said.
“I like to think about a conversation I had in seventh grade about the summer reading we had — they said the book that they chose, they chose because a seventh-grade boy would read it,” Sydney said. “It showed that they weren't thinking about what's the most important book we could be reading, or what’s best going to set up the kids to read the books we’ll be reading this year.”
The school board thanked the students for their insights and commended them on their academic performance.
Asked what career path they hope to pursue, Sydney answered that she is considering a job in the federal government, as well as staying in academia; Ophelia said she wants to study computer science and become a programmer; Patrick said he wants to be a pediatric oncologist; Eric said he wants to enter the medical field; and Rohin said he plans to study psychology and become a teacher.
“The five or the six of us represent a very small portion of this district and a rather select few that have had access to amazing resources and had amazing parents who further our education and have a great support system,” Patrick told the school board. “Not everybody has that, so I would strongly recommend not taking advice, just from us, but from all aspects of the Seneca community.”
