GHEC senior eyes National Merit scholarship
Christine Rupp — Sentinel Staff WriterArticle Photos
GRANADA - Whether he is chosen for one of the $2,500 scholarships is not as important to Jordan Larson as being on the list of National Merit scholars.
"It's just good to ... have the prestige of having the honor," said Larson, a senior at Granada-Huntley-East Chain.
There may be bigger scholarships, Larson says, but recently being named a semi-finalist for a National Merit Scholarship is an accomplishment in and of itself.
Larson entered the National Merit race last fall when he took the PSAT - Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test. Scores are used - with the student's permission - to determine eligibility for the National Merit Scholarship Program.
He was excited when he learned his score earned him a semi-finalist spot, especially considering many students take the PSAT and SAT college readiness exams several times to get the highest possible score.
"I was pretty happy with myself, that I was able to do that right away," Larson said.
Larson is one of 16,000 semi-finalists for 8,500 scholarships. He will find out in January if he is chosen as a finalist, with the actual scholarship winners announced in March. To be considered for one of the finalist spots, Larson had to submit an application that included information on his grade-point average and his standing within the school and community.
His GPA is about 4.4. That may be higher than the general 4.0 high school GPA scale, but for good reason. Larson is taking several college-level courses that are graded on a 5.0 scale.
College courses he has taking at Presentation College in Fairmont include psychology, chemistry, computer management systems and composition.
Through distance learning with the University of Minnesota, he has also taking linear algebra and differential equations. He took Calculus 2 last year and Calculus his sophomore year.
"I'm really advanced in math," he stated simply.
He has been in an accelerated math program since seventh grade.
It's no surprise that with his love for math Larson would choose to be an engineer. His only problem is deciding what kind of engineer: aerospace, electric or mechanical. He hopes to explore his options at MIT - the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston.
Larson's love for math and science is obvious, and it's definitely been noticed by others at the school.
"Jordan has that love for learning, and you can see it when he takes a test or when he's doing his work," said K-12 Principal Bob Grant. "You can just see it - that expression on his face. He just eats that up, and it's just so interesting to watch."
