Magen Jennings has brought honor to herself, Antilles School and the Virgin Islands; she has been one of approximately 1,500 Semifinalists in the 36th Annual National Achievement Scholarship Program, an academic competition for Black American high school students.
She now has the opportunity to continue in the competition for over 700 Achievement Scholarship awards worth over $2.5 million, that will be offered for college undergraduate study next year.
Magen is the daughter of Attorney Archie Jennings and Lorraine McFerran of Globalvest Securities.
"Receiving this recognition is an impressive and very high honor. Only the most promising high school seniors qualify as semi-finalists. I am very proud of Magen and very pleased for her," said Headmaster Mark Marin. "It is a great accomplishment, which reflects on Magen's individual talent and I think, on our very capable faculty who encourage our students to think critically."
The Achievement Program was initiated in 1964 to honor outstanding black students and to increase their educational opportunities.
Selection for the program, which is sponsored by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, is based on achievement on the 1998 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) as high school juniors.
Over 100,000 black students entered the year 2000 Achievement Program when they took this exam. The Semi-finalists are the highest-scoring entrants in the states that make up their geographic region.
Magen must be named a finalist in order to be eligible for an Achievement Scholarship. Award recipients will be those judged to have the strongest potential for academic success in college. Three types of scholarships will be awarded – 440 by the National Merit Corporation, 160 by corporations and more than 100 scholarships colleges. Winners will be announced in the spring of 2000.
Two other Antilles students, Elizabeth Streibich and Abraham Tarapani,were recently named semifinalists in the 45th Annual National Merit Scholarship Program.