NATIONAL MERIT SEMI-FINALIST

Virginia "Ginny" Corless, a senior at Yosemite High School, is one of 16,000 National Merit Scholarship Program semi-finalists this year. The semi-finalists represent less than one percent of each state’s high school seniors. There are 1,851 semi-finalists from 448 high schools in California.

Her academic counselor at YHS, Bob Yohn, says Ginny is "a young woman of many talents and interests who is highly motivated, highly responsible, highly self-disciplined, goal-oriented, bright and articulate." She is currently ranked number one in her class of 231 students.

Students entered the competition by taking a test in 1999. The scores on this test were used as the initial screening process for applicants. Those who were named semi-finalists must fulfill several more requirements to move onto the finalist level.

They must meet very high academic standards in college preparatory course work, they must submit their SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) scores and they must be fully endorsed and recommended by their high school principal.

They must also submit an application and write an essay about their activities, interests and goals. School officials must submit the student’s academic record, information about the school’s curricula and grading system, and a written recommendation for the semi-finalist.

About 14,500 semi-finalists are expected to move onto the finalist level. About half of those students will be selected to receive Merit Scholarship awards and be honored as Merit Scholar designees.

Ginny is a candidate for a full International Baccalaureate diploma at YHS. She has earned her Academic Letter, Academic Pin and is a straight "A" student on the honor roll.

She is vice president of the Spanish Club and teaches students at the elementary level. She is also vice president of the Environmental Club and she is a member of Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) and the California Scholarship Federation.

She played freshman and junior varsity basketball.

Ginny has won numerous speaking contests during her high school career. Honors include winning the club and zone level and taking second at the regional level of the Lions Club contest in 1998, speaking on Cyberspace: Rights vs. Control. She won club and zone and took second at the regional level again in 1999, speaking on Cloning: How Far Should Science Go?

She competed in the Rotary Club Student Speakers Contest the past two years. The first year, she won the club and area level and took third at the district level. The topic was Service Above Self. Last year she placed first at the club and area level, speaking on Act with Consistency, Credibility and Continuity.

Ginny has been a member of the school’s award-winning Academic Decathlon team. She took second place in the Individual Overall category at the state level and won the Top Student Scholar award at the county level. At the county level, she won five individual gold medals, two silver and one bronze. The team won a gold medal and advanced to the state competition. She was the team’s co-captain last year and will be again this year.

She won second place in Duo Acting at the Motherlode Drama Festival last spring. She entered the Madera County History Day competition the past two years, taking second place for her research paper last spring and winning first place for her presentation board in 1999.

She received High Honors in algebra and biology on the Golden State Examinations in 1997 and 1998. She received the Topham Science Award for year-long leadership and excellence in science when she was in the eighth grade.

As a junior, Ginny took the Scholastic Aptitude Test and scored 1560; a score of 1600 is the highest possible. She scored a perfect 800 in verbal and 760 in mathematics.

In her spare time, Ginny serves as a volunteer for the National Park Service, doing living-history interpretation and she also volunteers for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), organizing food drives and prizes for the annual pet photo contest.

In 1997, she was chosen to attend the US Space Camp and Space Academy where she received the "Right Stuff" award for leadership, excellence and enthusiasm. She plans to become a civilian astronaut.

During the summer of 1998, she attended a four-week residential program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. This earned her three college credits for Introduction to the Space Environment.

During the summer of 1999, she spent eight weeks as a research intern through the NASA SHARP Plus program at the University of New Mexico. She wrote a research paper on The Optical Properties of Sub-Micron Interferometric Gratings.

Ginny has been a member of the cast for YHS drama productions since the Fall semester of 1997. She is currently rehearsing for the production, Our Town.

With all of her activities, she still finds time to work. This past summer, she worked as an intern at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in the Education Department. During 1998, she was the guest host for two episodes of the PBS (Public Broadcasting System) show Real Science. During the summers of 1996 and 1997, she worked as a cashier at a local market.

Mr. Yohn sums this student up in this way: "Two of Ginny’s finest qualities are her constant striving to improve herself and her sensitivity and concern for the opinions and feelings of others. Her character is impeccable."