Homeschooled senior named as National Merit Semifinalist

Press release

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – From around 2000 homeschooled students registered in Alachua County, one high school senior got the honor of becoming a semifinalist in the National Merit Scholarship Program 2023.

On September 14, 2022, officials of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced the names of over 16,000 Semifinalists in the 68^th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These academically talented high school seniors represent less than 1 percent of high school seniors in the nation. To qualify, students must earn among the nation’s highest scores on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). About 1.5 million students take the exam each year.

17 Homeschooled High School seniors from Florida were named as Semifinalists this year. Among them is Alachua County’s top homeschooled student, Edward Guthrie.

At only 16 years old, Edward is a very talented, academically advanced student, who is currently dual enrolled at the University of Florida and Santa Fe College, maintaining a perfect academic record and the highest grades in the class among his peers. He plans to continue his studies at the University of Florida next year as a double major in Mathematics and Computer Science and a minor in Physics.