Sarah Bartusch '23 and Eleanor Merchant '23 have been named National Merit Semifinalists based on their junior year PSAT scores.
The two seniors will now advance to compete for Finalist status and some 7,250 National Merit Scholarships that will be offered next spring.
About 95% of the semifinalists are expected to become finalists. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation will notify them of this designation in February. About half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship or a financial award. On a rolling basis, beginning in April and ending in June, scholars are notified if they have been offered an award.
Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the next level of the competition. To become a finalist, the semifinalist and a high school official must submit an application that provides information about their academic record, school and community participation, employment, demonstrated leadership, and awards or honors received. A semifinalist must have a recommendation, write an essay and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm the student's earlier performance on the qualifying test.
Since its founding in 1955, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation has recognized more than 3.4 million students and provided approximately 451,000 scholarships worth over $1.8 billion. The honors awarded by NMSC to exceptionally able students are viewed as definitive marks of academic excellence.
Dabney Roberts Ring ’90 joined Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s staff in January 2016. She is currently a Senior Policy Officer and the Federal Relations Lead on Mayor Strickland’s intergovernmental team. She helped build an immersive internship for Hutchison senior Katie Frazer ’23.
Each year, Hutchison seniors on the Philanthropic Literacy Board research community needs and decide how to allocate grant money to local nonprofits that focus on those issues.
As eighth graders study the Holocaust, they got a unique opportunity to hear from a Hutchison staff member and her father about her grandparents' story of survival.
Anna-Margaret Webber '23 became the latest member of the Hutchison lacrosse team to earn a college scholarship as she signed to play for Rollins College.
Natalie Alexander ’25 is the first recipient of the award. She was chosen because she exhibits characteristicsthe award’s namesake, Dot Jones Hammons ’76, has demonstrated throughout her life: intellectual curiosity, steadfastness, loyalty, kindness, and compassion.
Congratulations to the nine Hutchison girls who earned a total of 11 Scholastic Writing Awards in the recent Alliance for Young Artists & Writers competition!
Meet Tanya Crump, one of Hutchison's junior kindergarten teachers. She is a dynamic, creative teacher who brings her students' dreams to life in the classroom, from learning about running a business to hatching baby chicks.
Kennedy Adeogba ’23, Lacy Williams ’23, and Nyla Johnson ’23 will make a short film with a $500 budget and receive mentoring from a professional filmmaker.
Hutchison girls won 57 Mid-South Scholastic Art Awards this year, with 11 Gold Keys, 15 Silver Keys, and 31 Honorable Mentions. Several students also won special awards for their work.
Eleanor Merchant '23 wanted to find a way to help fight the national ongoing blood shortage, so she organized a blood drive at Hutchison. With her efforts over the past two years, blood donations at the Hutchison blood drive could have saved as many as 192 lives.
Allison Blankenship ’12 has committed her 10 years since graduating from Hutchison to working in the political arena, spending the last five years working in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Becca Coopwood ’27 serves as a student ambassador for The Social Institute, an organization that works to empower students to use social media and technology in a positive way. In her role, she helps produce blog posts from the perspective of students.
If you want to see Coach Thomas Jones light up, ask him about Maxine Engel ’21 and her journey from a rising ninth grader with a broken leg to a senior walking away as a State Champion. “You know how most coaches say, ‘I helped a kid?’ Well, she helped me. Helped me grow as a coach.
Seniors had a lot to say about the Tom Lee Park redevelopment after a recent Rogers Scholars excursion. And that's the point of these forays into the community. “They keep us aware of what is happening in our city, ultimately making us more well-rounded citizens,” said Emma Couch ’23.
Meet Katie Davis, one of Hutchison's third grade teachers. Ms. Davis enjoys taking on a challenge in the classroom and the freedom to follow her students' interests. She encourages her students to become lifelong learners.
The College Board has named Antonella Lejwa ’23 a National Hispanic Recognition Program Scholar, an honor reserved for a select number of outstanding students. She has proven herself through academic achievement and various extracurricular activities.
Middle school teacher Joe Koelsch loves quadratic equations like only a math teacher can. He wants his students to spend time understanding the equations before they rush to solve them. Koelsch, a national expert in Illustrative Math (IM), wrote in a leading blog for educators that IM’s focus on understanding processes, not just the pursuit of a right answer, can be a game-changer for math students.
Solving global issues requires research, critical thinking, proposal crafting, and challenging discussions, and our 7th and 8th graders are honing their diplomacy skills through Model United Nations. The YMCA Middle School Model UN Conference provides an opportunity for students to practice their debate and public speaking skills in a formal setting while encouraging them to find ways to join together as a community to solve current global issues.