Local Named Merit Scholarship Program Semifinalist

BERLIN -- Skylar Nash Quelland of Snow Hill High School has been named a semifinalist in the 2013 National Merit Scholarship Program, which honors individual students who show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies.  No other student in the Worcester County Public School system was named a Semifinalist for 2013.

The qualifying score for Maryland was 219 (out of 240). Quelland had a score of 234. He has the opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,300 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition. About 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and more than half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.

To become a finalist, the semifinalist and their high school must submit a detailed scholarship application in which they provide information about the semifinalist's academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities and honors and awards received. A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout 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. Quelland’s qualifying SAT scores are 2,300 (out of 2,400).

Quelland has been educated in Worcester County Public Schools since he started school. He has attended Buckingham and Showell Elementary schools, Berlin Intermediate School, Snow Hill Middle and Snow Hill High schools and Worcester Technical High School.

Anyone who has attended school with Quelland never has a hard time remembering him. He is the one with a big smile who has book in hand and is speeding in his motorized wheelchair. He will graduate when he is 16 years old. He has attended summer camps at four different universities and went to Johns Hopkins University during the summer when he was 14 years old, for which he received college credit for completing an undergraduate Engineering class. Skylar is in the Pre-Engineering Program at Worcester Technical High School and plans to pursue an Engineering degree from University of Maryland-College Park, Stanford University or University of Arizona.