Senior Nadia Busekrus has been named a 2013 National Merit scholarship semi-finalist from among 16,000 students based on their PSAT scores.

As a semifinalist, Busekrus has the opportunity to apply for finalist standing which puts her in the running for one of 8,000 scholarships offered by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Busekrus will provide information about her family, extracurricular activities and career interests as well as a personal statement for the finalist position. The National Merit Corporation will contact her by February.

As a National Merit scholar, Busekrus can receive scholarship offers from the National Merit Scholarship Committee and from schools she has applied to.

Busekrus said, “The semifinalist designation is one that colleges will see when they look at my applications. This may encourage them to offer me more scholarship money. This is an opportunity that I am very grateful for!”

Busekrus is planning on a bachelor’s degree in nursing, possibly becoming a psychiatric or pediatric nurse practitioner.

Busekrus said, “My mom and two aunties are all nurses so nursing runs in the family, but also I want to have a job where I can serve people and work with them personally.”

Busekrus is applying to schools, including Georgetown University, University of Portland, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.