Contact: Jenni Brockman
Telephone: 804-443-3357
Fax: 804-443-6781
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Two SMS Seniors are Merit Scholarship Commended Students
Tappahannock, VA (October 7, 2000) - Joan Claire Stephenson of Tappahannock and Alison Paige Wasserman of Baltimore, both seniors at St. Margaret's School, have scored among the top five percent of high school students nationally on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. As a result, they have been named Commended Students in the 2001 National Merit Scholarship Program.
The percentage of SMS seniors achieving College Board recognition (8%) exceeds that of many larger schools. This year's honorees are Alison Wasserman (l.) and Claire Stephenson.
Claire is the daughter of Ned and Susan Stephenson of Tappahannock. Mr. Stephenson is executive vice president of Eastern Virginia Bankshares, and Mrs. Stephenson is day family coordinator and parents council liaison at SMS. Claire also is the granddaughter of E.V and Ellen Stephenson of Ivor and Albert and Aggie Lindler of Hampton. She has attended SMS since the ninth grade.
Outside the classroom, Claire serves as the Head Day Prefect, and is active in the National Honor Society, Quill and Scroll journalism honor society, Student Government Association, Student/Alumni Council, yearbook, "Basic Needs" community service organization, and the varsity field hockey and crew teams. Her scholastic performance previously has been recognized with the Harvard Book Prize and Rensselaer Math and Science Award, as well as by various academic subject honors. She is applying to the University of Virginia, Middlebury College, Rice University, and Wake Forest, Rice and James Madison universities.
Alison is the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Charles I. Wasserman of Baltimore. A five-year boarding student, she plays goalie on the varsity field hockey team and participates in Student/Alumnae Council, Students Educating About AIDS, Basic Needs, Quill and Scroll, and yearbook. She also plays soccer and lacrosse.
While at SMS, Alison has won the Mary Percival Prize and the Columbia College Award, in addition to earning academic achievement awards in Spanish, music history and pre-calculus. She hopes to play field hockey and study either business or pre-medical subjects at Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania.
More than one million high school students entered the 2001 Merit Program by taking the 1999 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
