Asa Clingerman, Bluffton High School senior, has been named a finalist in the 70th annual National Merit  Scholarship Program. The announcement was made this week with finalists being notified of this  designation. All Finalists will be considered for 6,870 National Merit Scholarship Awards to be offered in  spring 2025. 

Clingerman is the son of Gail and the late Forrest Clingerman.  

Over 1.3 million high school juniors from 21,000 high schools entered the contest by taking the 2023  Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®). Semifinalists and Finalists  must have an outstanding academic record throughout their high school career. Scholars must also be  endorsed by a high school official, write an essay and earn SAT or ACT scores to confirm their earlier  performance on the qualifying test to advance to the semi-finalist round, according to scholarship rules.  

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To become a finalist, Clingerman worked with Dr. Elizabeth Smith, Bluffton High School Counselor to  submit a scholarship application, which included academic record, participation in school and  community activities, leadership abilities, employment and honors and awards received. Over 15,000  students advanced to the finalist level. 

The selection of Merit Scholarship winners from the group of more than 15,000 Finalists is now in  progress. Winners of the scholarship will then be announced between April and July, in four rounds. These scholarship recipients will join more than 382,000 other distinguished young people who have  earned the Merit Scholar title.