After scoring in the top 1.5 percent of PSAT scores around the world, seniors Jocelyn McBride and Eva Stafne qualified for the National Merit Scholarship; a scholarship that only 16,000 people in the nation qualify for. McBride and Stafne were named semi-finalists after receiving a 1490 and 1440 on the PSAT. 

“It was actually very unexpected. I didn’t even realize I was in the running for it. I took the PSAT and kind of forgot about it,” McBride said.

Assistant principal Matt Kraft works in the Black Pony Center and has been able to connect with Stafne over the years. Kraft also oversees the PSAT.

“I think how Eva stands out as an example of a National Merit semifinalist would be her overall desire and motivation to learn and to push herself,” Kraft said.

Stafne says she is naturally smart and comes from a very smart family. She is motivated by her “unquenchable thirst for academic validation.”

McBride said she puts a good amount of work into her academics and would probably choose to study for a test rather than do other things. Although, Stafne tries not to overwhelm herself with school work and tries putting most of her time into her other hobbies.

“I try to put work into my sports and my clubs, my other job and those things, because I’m lucky enough that the smarts tend to come naturally.” Stafne said.

McBride works hard in school because of how it will help her in life. She loves learning and uses it to benefit her in any way possible.

“I just have kind of always been driven to want to learn things and to improve myself,” McBride said.

McBride and Stafne both want to go to college after high school, but are unsure of their future plans for now. Stafne runs her own business and plans to major in business in college, but McBride is still undecided. They both hope that the scholarship will help them get into their school of choice easier.

“I’m looking at a lot of places right now because I don’t have a specific major, but I think even just having semifinalist as a title will make people looks twice at an application that way,” McBride said.

McBride and Stafne, semifinalists, will find out if they qualify as finalists this upcoming February.