<p>My son got NMSC Commended Student for '04 (missed the cutoof for semifinalist by 3 points)-and as his school is new, small, and a pre-conservatory arts school,he was the first and only student there so far to receive NMSC recognition. They made a presentation over the loudspeaker during homeroom, put me on speaker phone so I could hear it while I was at work, and they also took a photo of him receiving it which was posted on the main bulletin board.</p>
<p>Yesterday my son went in to the College and Career Center at the high school he attends part-time (homeschooled the rest). All seniors were supposed to bring in notices of all awards they had received, so they could be recognized at Awards Night. He told the lady there that He was a National Merit Commended Student. The lady looked at him uncertainly and asked,"What's National Merit?" Even after he explained, she did not seem to have ever heard of it!</p>
<p>Guess that shows how big a deal that school makes of NM! They usually have maybe one finalist and one commended student, and it is a big school. (about 400 in the graduating class) They do list it in the principal's newsletter, and this year they gave out certificates to the students at a School Board meeting. But apparently this lady--the one students see to get information on scholarships--knows nothing about it...</p>
<p>Hi-at my son's school the focus, unfortunately, is more on the arts than on the academics, so being the PTA VP, School Leadership Team, and a "pushy mom" in general, I sorta kept "inquiring" of the principal when my son would be recognized, and probably to shut me up she finally did! He is also the first in this school to be accepted to an Ivy League college (Columbia) and even that is mentioned as an afterthought after "many of our students have been accepted to the top conservatories".....and believe me, no one has gotten into Julliard...the "top conservatory" is one kid who got into NYU Tisch for Technical Theatre....Columbia is by far the most prestigious acceptance but at his school being the lead in the school play is far more important...sigh...</p>
<p>Our school did make a big deal of it at the senior awards night. Four commended NM students came up to the front and were handed their certificates and then they brought my son up alone and recognized him for his finalist status---only one in a class of 266. It was very nice and, of course, made us feel very good.
I totally understand the feeling that some recognition is needed for academic honors such as this. This year, no mention had been made regarding the National Merit students in the bulletins, student newspaper, etc. First place in a track meet might get headlines, but academics rarely seems to make news. However, I think my son's school counselor got busy this past week and at graduation our principal announced the fact that our school had a NM Finalist and 4 commended, we have an article in the school newspaper and a yearbook photo and article.<br>
I really think you might want to mention the oversight to someone (counselor, principal). Your child really deserves some recognition for this honor.</p>
<p>First, thanks to everyone for your response. It has been interesting to see how various schools handle NMF recognition.</p>
<p>For those of you who are interested it outcome of my "discussion" with the school, I received an email today. They are going to announce the NMF award during morning announcement this week and list it in the graduation program. I can accept this action.</p>
<p>Calmom - I agree with you. The real benefit of NMF status is the scholarships that become available from certain colleges. My DD's college cost will be significantly reduced because of NMF scholarships. I only pursued the recognition because the school had volunteered it earlier in the year.</p>
<p>working, I hope that my comments did not come off sounding as critical of you for wanting the recognition. I do believe that my son should have received more recognition -- but at the time, we had a lot of good news and an exciting time to look forward to, and basically it seemed like it was time to move on from the world of high school. It doesn't mean that it was o.k. to be forgotten....just that "recognition" is a rather fleeting thing anyway. I mean, all of our close friends knew about the NM status whether it was announced or not -- 2 days after the graduation no one else was going to remember who had what award and my son was getting the attention he wanted by wearing his chosen college t-shirt to school every day. So it wasn't that we didn't feel annoyed... it was just that we were ready to move on, and we didn't want to spoil the memories of high school graduation by spending emotional energy on feelings of anger or resentment.</p>
<p>NMSF in our school district receive a great deal of attention. Our school principle notifies the local papers and stories are run in the fall which profile each student with semi-finalist status. In the spring more detailed articles are run which detail college plans, etc. The finalists were also commended at a local school board meeting and each gave brief speech detailing college plans. Though I haven't been to the senior awards ceremony held at our HS, I am certain the finalists are recognized on this day also. Our school district average number of finalist has ranged from 5 to 12 students over the past several years. If there were 50 (as in some posts) I imagine it would be handled differently.</p>
<p>So far nothing from high school for NMF status. But graduation is early June, so I guess we will see. I figure the college acceptance was the prize:).</p>
<p>Our school mentions the names of the NMF and commended in their on-line newsletter in the fall, when the stats are released. At graduation, as each kid goes up for his/her diploma, they announce where they are going to school in the fall and the scholarships they have been awarded. The grads are called up alphabetically, but by category-- the summa cum laudes, then the magna cum laudes, then the cum laudes, and then the general diplomas. The administration was going to do away with this practice last year (my older s's graduation year) but the FACULTY reacted strongly, advocating for it's retention, and the process remained. I believe they felt it was important that the kids were acknowledged for their hard academic work and effort. Sometimes it's easier to be a popular or varsity lettered kid than a smart kid. Being on the Varsity Math or Computer team isn't, shall we say, as revered by one's peers as the varsity football or basketball team, or even the ultimate frisbee team!</p>
<p>Calmom - not at all. I appreciate your encouragement to keep it in proper prospective.</p>
<p>We live in an urban district with 4 high schools. Each year the district sponsors a presentation and reception for all the semi-finalists and their parents. This is in the fall. All the semis are listed in the paper and the school's newsletter. They don't make a big deal about finalist status since most of the semis also become finalists. All of the finalists are listed in the 2 daily papers when those names come out. Just for comparison, the district graduates about 1800 students each year and averages 50-60 finalists each year.</p>
<p>Agreed that there is no point in holding a grudge, but considering how uncool it is to be smart in many of our public schools, these kids deserve to be recognized at least by school officials.</p>
<p>D is in graduating class of about 340. 5 of the students this year were NMFs. This was the largest number they ever had. (Last year there was one NMF.)</p>
<p>At the Academic banquet held at the Omni by the school district for students with a 4.0 average (of which there were a little over a hundred ) they announced the scholarships mentioning the National merit finalists as each one came up for their "distinguished" certificate. ( interesting note: Not one student from our school will be going to the ivy league.) All NMFs will be using thier NMF status in order to help finance their education. Probably the most "prestigious" schools mentioned were Rice and UT Austin.</p>
<p>Then today we went to the school district board meeting where the principal called the 5 students up, gave a short speech about them, had pictures taken with them, gave them each a very nice sort of combo trophy-plaque engraved with their names and all the info about the award, then they shook hands with all the board members, the superintendant and the principal. </p>
<p>The school also had a large poster made of the NMF's.</p>
<p>Our school district puts a very stong emphasis on academics. Also being honored tonight were the UIL academic math team that won first place in state in the 4a division. By the way we are not a "rich" school district but we do have a lot of military and receive some military funding because of the large amount of military dependants attending our school. (Our school is the 10 time National champions of NJROTC)</p>
<p>So, anyway, I'm grateful that d is in a district where the emphasis is not just on sports and that academics are also recognized.</p>
<p>WFB, I'm glad that things worked out...I think that NMF status should be recognized by hs's as much as the athletics and other recognition that seems far more routine. </p>
<p>6-10 students receive NMF at D's hs every year. They're recognized at an "Awards Night" that covers everything including the kitchen sink, including state scholarships (Cal Grants) determined mainly by financial need. I know that National Honor Society and California Scholarship Federation are asterisked in the graduation program...I don't think NMF was.</p>
<p>I was at a PTSA board meeting where it was suggested that there be awards dinner for NMF students...as the only board member whose student was eligible, I kept my mouth shut during the discussion. It was decided that "it was a luxury" to do so. Given some of the other budget decisions, my take was a bit jaundiced, along the lines of academic excellence not being a priority.</p>
<p>Well, the only recognition that NMF students get at my child's school is that the number of NMF from the previous 5 years get listed on the college profile.
Since this year there were 15 NMF of 67 graduating seniors, it's just considered nothing special.</p>
<p>Our school had its awards ceremony and very happily announced that they had nine finalists--the most ever, but they did not read the names of the finalists or present certificates. Go figure.</p>