Bulloch Academy senior Asa Johnson is the only Bulloch County semifinalist in the prestigious 2013 National Merit Scholarship Program.
    He becomes one of approximately 16,000 high school seniors who will continue in the competition for some 8,300 National Merit Scholarships. These scholarships are worth more than $32 million and will be awarded next spring.
    “Asa is an extremely intelligent student who settles for nothing less than the best,” BA counselor Holly Greeson said. “He has taken the most rigorous courses offered at Bulloch Academy and has maintained a 4.0 GPA throughout his entire academic career. To be named one of the top high-school seniors in the nation is truly outstanding.” 
Johnson, the 17-year-old son of David and Bonnie Johnson, has been a Scholar Athlete at Bulloch during his entire high-school career, maintaining an “A” average while participating in two or more sports. He is the starting center on the varsity football team and also plays defensive tackle. He also wrestles in the winter and plays soccer in the spring.
He is a member of the school’s student government, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the varsity mathematics team. As a sophomore, Johnson went to a Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership conference as the school’s nominee. As a junior, he was both a Wofford Scholar and a Presbyterian College Junior Fellow and was on the school’s Leadership Council.
Johnson is an Advanced Placement Scholar, having achieved a perfect score of 5 on each of the three exams he has taken so far. He is currently enrolled in two AP courses and college pre-calculus through the ACCEL program. He also was voted “Most Likely To Succeed” by his classmates.
To become a finalist, Johnson and Bulloch Academy must submit a detailed scholarship application in which information about his academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities and honors and awards received.
A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high-school official, write an essay and earn SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
About 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain “finalist” standing and will be notified in February. More than half of those will win one of the three types of National Merit Scholarships.
    About 1.5 million juniors from more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2013 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2011 Preliminary SAT. The semifinalists represent less than 1 percent of U.S. high-school seniors. The number of semifinalists in each state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.