Amanda, National Merit Finalist, Wins Full-Ride Scholarship

What did you do?

I participated in the National Merit Scholarship Competition for the Class of 2025, became a National Merit Finalist, and was consequently awarded a full-ride scholarship from Florida International University.

The scholarship will pay for all my college expenses (tuition, books, etc.) for the four years to earn my bachelor’s degree.

What organization recognized the achievement?

The National Merit Scholarship Program and Florida International University recognized it.

How did homeschooling help you achieve your goal?

Homeschooling helped me score a high grade on the SAT, which is required to become a National Merit Finalist. I already knew many of the concepts I had to study for the test since they were taught in Seton’s Advanced Math and Literature & Composition courses.

Having a flexible schedule also allowed me to allot certain days for SAT study and other days doing my regular schoolwork, so I could focus on one at a time and didn’t have to constantly swap between the two.

In addition, writing my National Merit essay was much easier since I had a lot of practice writing essays for Seton book analyses.

What are your interests?

My interests include piano and music composition, birdwatching, creative writing, and drawing. I’m also the current admin of Seton Writers’ Club, an over twenty-year-old unofficial writing forum.

What are you inspired to do with your life?

I would eventually like to have a career in computer programming, especially as a video game programmer. I’ve played many video games in the past, but it’s rather hard to find good video games that align with Catholic moral teaching.

My dream would be to one day design and program my own games for Catholics to enjoy. Making video games also aligns with my other hobbies of music composition, art design, and creative writing, so that’s definitely a plus!

What are your favorite subjects and why?

My favorite subjects are Computer Programming (12th grade) and Honors American Literature (11th grade).

Computer Programming is my favorite because it’s both an artistic activity, so I can be creative and have fun while I work, and a mathematical and logical subject. (I do very well in math.) Of course, I also like Seton’s Computer Programming as it prepares me for Computer Science at FIU.

I enjoyed Honors American Literature because it had the most entertaining reading material of all the Seton literature courses I took. I especially liked the funny stories, such as Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Christopher Morley’s On Unanswering Letters. From time to time, I reread the selections from the course for inspiration for my own writing.

The photo was taken in my study room.