10-28-2022 4:45am

Boyertown Senior Named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist

Lesley Misko Editor

Boyertown senior Dylan Klass has been named a National Merit Semifinalist. (Photo courtesy of Boyertown Area School District)

After scoring 1470 of a possible 1520 on the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT), Boyertown Area Senior High (BASH) senior Dylan Klass has been named a 2023 Semifinalist in the prestigious National Merit Scholarship Competition (NMSC). Annually, about 1.5 million students take the test. Of those, only about 16,000, or 1%, earn Semifinalist designation. Dylan will now strive to advance to Finalist status with the hope of ultimately becoming a scholarship recipient.

Knowing that BASH requires all 11th grade students to take the qualifying exam, and after assessing his strengths and “weaknesses,” Dylan decided to do a series of practice tests to prepare. “I was always accelerated in math, but less strong on the English side of things,” Dylan shares. On each practice test he had a few incorrect answers, but following the actual test, he says, “I felt good leaving. I felt like I did my best on test day.”

Assistant principal Dr. Andrew Maoury and Mrs. Sandra Gallagher, Dylan’s counselor, agree that requiring all juniors to take the PSAT is beneficial. Maoury believes “taking a college level test of this length and level of difficulty is a good experience for our students.” Gallagher points out that taking the test also “gives students access to College Board on-line resources to prepare for the SATs.”

Once a student attains Semifinalist status, other factors help to determine whether he advances to Finalist. There are seven requirements that must be met, including providing a strong letter of support from a school official, demonstrating a continuing high level of academic achievement, and scoring well on the SAT during senior year to demonstrate that your impressive PSAT scores were not a fluke.

Outstanding academic achievement – Dylan’s grade point average places him 3rd in his class of about 500 – is only one of his strengths. An active participant in school activities like basketball, cross country, National Honor Society, Math Team, Science Olympiad , and Technology Student Association (TSA), Dylan is also appreciated by his classmates, who elected him to be their class president. Assistant principal Maoury shares that he “enjoys working with Dylan on senior class related planning. If my own young children turn out to be anything like him, I will be a happy father,” Maoury says; “He is a very nice young man, a great citizen, a good person.”

Dylan credits his best friend, senior Richard Black, with inspiring him to achieve at a high level. The two met while playing in a boys’ ‘’Bobcat Basketball’ tournament during third grade and have been close friends ever since. “We have a healthy feedback loop,” Dylan explains; “We push each other to compete and be successful. It’s a friendly thing.”

Totally educated in the BASD, Dylan is a graduate of Gilbertsville Elementary School and Middle School East. Asked what he believes is the best thing about his education in the district, he immediately says, “a great selection of teachers. They are often underappreciated,” and he namechecks several of his favorites.

Similarly, there is no hesitation when Dylan has an opportunity to suggest an improvement. “Computer Science, we need more Computer Science course offerings. Each time we picked our classes for the following year, I checked the box for that class, and I have never ever been able to get it,” he explains. “It is probably the field I want to study in college and I am concerned that students from other schools will have an edge over me because of the computer courses they had.”

While looking forward to the senior trip and the rest of 12th grade, Dylan now often turns his thoughts to college. “Close or distant, large or small – there are so many factors to consider in selecting a school,” Dylan shares. But wherever he ends up, Dylan hopes to have a $2,500 National Merit Scholarship in his pocket. Dylan’s counselor believes that his character traits make that a good bet. “Despite his successes, Dylan is extremely humble,” she says. “He is very resourceful and independently motivated.” Those qualities, along witih his academic qualifications, are likely to be a winning combination for Dylan.