Plymouth's National Merit Scholarship semifinalist
By Mike Siroky
PLYMOUTH � Plymouth high School has a National Merit Scholar semifinalist.
David Phillips is now in contention for a National Merit Scholarship. He is among 16,000 qualifiers nationwide, gleaned from the 1.3 million seniors who entered the competition.
Less than one percent of each state�s high school seniors qualify as semifinalists.
The next step is to fill out a finalists application, submit a 500-word essay and have the school forward class rankings. The high school principals naturally endorse the semifinalists.
There will be 8,000 National Merit Scholarships awarded nationwide, worth a total of $30 million.
David has an easy answer for his good grades: �Smart parents.�
They are local author Rachael Phillips and Dr. Steve Phillips.
In all seriousness, his older sister, Christy, is as much to credit for his study habits.
�She�s three years older than me,� said David. �In the first and second grades, she�d come home and teach me what she had learned that day. So I had a three-year head start.
�Good study habits and family . . it�s kind of a bit of both.�
David has always excelled academically, through Webster Elementary and Lincoln Junior High. At Plymouth High School, he is currently No. 1 in the class rankings, but is aware two more students are just percentage points behind him.
�So we�ll see how the grades play out this year,� he said. It�s a safe bet he will be making a speech on graduation night.
As for the classwork, �I don�t have to work as hard as some of my friends, but everything takes a little bit of work,� David said �I love all my classes, journalism, economics, political science, math, all types of science . . . plus I love to read.�
He does not necessarily hang out with only honor students, although has friends in the honors classes. �Then I have friends in band or speech who may or may not be honor students,� he said. �I sort of float with a lot of groups.�
Basically, his high school experience and advice to any one else who might consider an academic track can be simply summed up: �Just have lots of fun.�
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