Severna Park, Broadneck Seniors Named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists

Since 1955, high school students have competed every year for the National Merit Scholarship.

This year, two local seniors are semifinalists for the scholarship: Susanna Sprandel of Broadneck High School and Mariam Khan of Severna Park High School.

To be considered, a student’s PSAT scores must meet the specified requirements. Of the nearly 1.6 million entrants, 50,000 receive recognition as either a commended student or semifinalist.

In September, 16,000 students are named semifinalists. In March, 7,500 students are notified that they earned one of the three scholarships.

Susanna Sprandel — Broadneck High School

When Sprandel was called down to the guidance office, she was relieved to learn that she was a semifinalist for the National Merit Scholarship.

“I just really like learning things,” Sprandel said. She often spends her limited free time at home scouring the internet to read about things she doesn’t learn about in school. “I tend to read a lot about history. I like to read about different perspectives on things even if I don’t agree with them at all. I don’t like to be uninformed or wrong.”

Though she’s looking at a bunch of schools, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is Sprandel’s “dream school.” She isn’t sure what specifically she wants to major in, but she has it narrowed down to the STEM field, as her interests are chemistry, physics and abstract math.

Sprandel is involved with many extracurricular activities at Broadneck. She plays mellophone in the marching band and is part of the robotics team, National Honor Society and Imagination Destination.

“I think that the extracurriculars actually help with the motivation because I do very well under some sort of a time constraint,” Sprandel said.

Mariam Khan — Severna Park High School

Khan received a phone call from her friend who is the student member on the Board of Education and got a press release about the semifinalists. This is how she learned she was a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist.

“She called me and she was like, ‘Congratulations!’ And I was like, ‘What are you talking about? I don’t know what you mean,’” Khan said. “It was a weird way of finding out.”

Khan is involved with many math-related clubs at Severna Park High School. She is president of the Math Honor Society, captain of the math team, and in charge of the tutoring programs at the middle school through the math team and National Honor Society. Over the summer, she attended the Yale Summer Program in Astrophysics where she did research on the near-Earth asteroid 1999YN4.

“I think the most important thing is time management,” Khan said of staying on top of her studies. “You have to be able to juggle all these different things.”

Khan is not yet sure where she wants to go to college or what she wants to major in, but she thinks it will be in the math or STEM fields.

Though she was excited when she found out she was a semifinalist, Khan said getting awards isn’t the important thing to focus on.

“Since I was kid, I’ve always loved learning. I’ve loved school, as dorky as that sounds,” Khan said. “Education is something that’s always been important to me and important to my family. I’m wired that way.”