Bishop Chatard High School is proud to announce that senior Hayden Redelman has been named a semifinalist in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program. Hayden was recognized Sept. 12 before the BCHS student body following the weekly all-school Mass.
Hayden attended Christ the King School and is now a member of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish. Still in the midst of his college search, Hayden is applying to attend Bowdoin College, Kenyon College, the University of Notre Dame and several other small liberal arts colleges. He plans to study government and English.
During his high school years, Hayden has remained active both inside and outside of the school community. At Bishop Chatard, he has been involved with Model UN, the Social Justice Club, Theatre Crew, Student Ambassadors, National Honor Society and is a member of the Volleyball team. Outside of Bishop Chatard, Hayden serves on the Mayor’s Youth Leadership Council, Indiana Legislative Youth Advisory Council, and is high school chair of We LIVE Inc., an organization to end youth violence.
Hayden was named a National Merit Semifinalist as a result of scores achieved on the PSAT test taken during his junior year at Bishop Chatard. He is now in the running to become a finalist in the National Merit Program and be considered for National Merit Scholarships in the spring.
Over 1.5 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2018 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test last year, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Approximately 16,000 semifinalists were named using results of that test. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state.
Hayden’s advice for this year’s juniors who are preparing to take the test in October?
“I think a lot of the time it’s easy to lose a sense of the big picture – we don’t take advantage of things that might, on the surface, seem small or irrelevant,” Hayden said. “But, whether it’s with the PSAT or an extracurricular or academics, little things can turn into big opportunities, into scholarships, leadership positions, or even just personal growth. Go all in on those opportunities. It’ll pay off, even if it’s not obvious at first.”
And it may be a little cliché, he added, but take the PSAT seriously, get good sleep and eat a good breakfast. “The P doesn’t have to stand for practice.”