School News

The National Merit Scholarship Competition (NMSC) recently announced the names of approximately 16,000 Semifinalists in the 67th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Homestead High School is excited to announce that eight of our senior students have qualified as National Merit Semifinalists. Those students include: Alexander Cai, Adam Garsha, Sophia Ho, Siyu Li, Jacob Schmidman, Margaret Sehnert, Eric Wan, and Ethan Wang.

These academically talented seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $30 million that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of competition. Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies.

“The level of academic excellence demonstrated by this group of seniors is truly outstanding,” said Homestead Principal Eric Ebert. “We are so proud of their accomplishments not only as they start their final year of high school, but throughout their academic careers. By maintaining such a high level of dedication to their coursework and goals, we know these seniors will continue to do great things in college and in their chosen careers.”

High school juniors entered the 2022 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2020 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

Students who qualify as Semifinalists based on their performance on the PSAT/NMSQT are the only program participants who have an opportunity to advance to the Finalist level and compete for National Merit Scholarships. From the approximately 16,000 Semifinalists, about 15,000 are expected to advance to Finalist level, and in February will be notified of this designation. All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from this group of Finalists. Finalists will be announced beginning in April 2022.

Find more information about the National Merit Scholarship Corporation at www.nationalmerit.org

The College Board, which administers the national PSAT and SAT assessments, recognizes academic excellence through its National Recognition Programs. We are proud to announce that Homestead High School senior Blair Martin has received the designation of National African American Recognition Program Scholar by the College Board. Students selected for this prestigious honor have excelled on their PSAT/NMSQT, PSAT 10, or AP Exams and in their classwork.

“We’re thrilled to learn that Blair earned this recognition. We are very proud of her for her outstanding achievements in the classroom and on College Board assessments. On top of that, Blair is as equally good a person as she is a student,” said Homestead Principal Eric Ebert.

Martin is one of 32,000 students from across the country to earn academic honors from the College Board’s National Recognition Programs. These National Recognition Programs grant underrepresented students with academic honors that can be included on college and scholarship applications and connect students with universities across the country, helping them stand out during the admissions process. Colleges and scholarship programs use these honors to identify students from underrepresented groups through College Board’s Student Search Service.

Martin is applying to several highly-selective universities and plans to major in journalism or English. During her high school career, she has participated in orchestra, forensics, publications, and the “Jack and Jill” community leadership program.

“Blair will be a phenomenal addition to any college campus,” said Kris Besler, Director of Counseling at Homestead High School, “We are all so proud of her, and know that she has great things in her future.”

Congratulations to all of the seniors that were honored this morning during Homestead High School's annual Awards Program! A video recording of the presentation can be viewed here.
 

Click here to view the presentation slideshow.

Click here to view the full list of scholarship recipients. 

Mequon-Thiensville School District administration is aware of Homestead High School (HHS) state ranking #142 in the most recent U.S. News & World Report Best High Schools electronic publication. Two of the five ranking factors for Homestead High School are listed as not applicable under the current rankings methodology. These two ranking factors are determined based on 12th-grade students’ participation and success on Advanced Placement examinations. U.S. News & World Report has shared that they are provided Advanced Placement data directly from the College Board. As with past rankings by US News and World Report, the rankings are determined based on assessment results from two years prior. The 2021 US News & World Report rankings are determined based on assessment data from the 2018-19 school year.

MTSD administration has contacted US News & World Report to communicate the problem and requested an updated ranking for HHS as soon as possible.

Congratulations to our 2021 Merit Award Winners!

The 2021 HHS Merit Award Ceremony will be held virtually on Monday, April 26, 2021. Click to view the award program, which will also be emailed to all participants prior to the event.

Congratulations to Highlander Publications Editor-in-Chief Hannah Kennedy, senior, for placing as a top finalist in the Wisconsin Journalist of the Year competition!

Click here to read more about Hannah's accomplishment.

Congratulations to the Homestead High School Class of 2020 Distinguished Graduates! (Please note: In compliance with COVID-19 safety procedures and physical distancing, this photo is a composite of individual photos taken during this summer's outdoor graduation ceremony.)

BACK ROW (Left to Right)
Shubhan Mathur; Danilo Rosich; Jackson Rusch; Jacob Yasonik; Konnor Raskin

THIRD ROW  (Left to Right)
Thomas Ochalek; Seth Marcus; Andrew Wang; Benjamin Kittleson; Jacob Florsheim

SECOND ROW  (Left to Right)
Joshua Teplin; Lauren Fitzsimmons; Allison Yang; Jonathan Lane

FRONT ROW  (Left to Right)
Natalie Yang; Emily Wiebe; Jessica Lamers; Megan Carley; Bridget Brown

Photo Credit: VIP, Inc.

Three Homestead High School students were recently announced as semifinalists in the National Merit Program. Seniors Max Franks, Megan Gehl, and Kristen Dillon have an opportunity to continue in the National Merit Scholarship Program competition for 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $30 million that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. National Merit Scholarship winners of 2021 will be announced beginning in April. Congratulations to Max, Megan, and Kristen!

New for the 2020-2021 school year, each MTSD school will be posting directly to their own Facebook page! Follow Homestead High School to stay up-to-date on the latest and greatest happening in your school (and online). 

A $10,000 Herb Kohl Educational Foundation 2020 Excellence Scholarship has been awarded to Andrew Wang, a student at Homestead High School, by Herb Kohl, Wisconsin philanthropist and businessman. 

The Herb Kohl Excellence Scholarship recognizes students who have demonstrated academic potential, outstanding leadership, citizenship, community service, integrity and other special talents.

“We are immensely proud of Andrew,” said Principal Eric Ebert. “He is a passionate scholar in the classroom, and he also uses his talents and gifts outside the academic setting as well. On top of that, Andrew has a great personality and is a fun person to be around.”

The Herb Kohl Educational Foundation has been recognizing educational excellence since 1990 by annually awarding scholarships to 200 graduating high school students throughout Wisconsin. 

Currently in its 30th year, the Herb Kohl Educational Foundation has awarded $21.2 million to Wisconsin students, teachers, principals and schools.