Havre High's Hart a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist

Havre High School Senior Simon Hart has qualified as a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist. 

"I think it's pretty cool," Simon Hart said. "I kind of forgot that this whole thing was even possible because it took about a year for me to hear back from, so to have confirmation that some of that hard work that I did has manifested itself in this way is nice."

The National Merit Scholarship program is a United States competition started in 1955 created to identify and honor scholastically talented American youth and to encourage them to develop their abilities to the fullest.

To accomplish this, he said, it took lots of studying and hard work.

More than 16,000 people got nominated for this scholarship, he said. 

He said he started studying his freshman year for the standardized tests one has to take in high school such as the ACT, SAT or for advanced placement tests to prepare himself for them.

  "I just kind of gradually made sure that everything that I was learning was sticking in my head and I was prepared for the actual tests later on," Hart said.

He has no set plans for where he would like to attend college after graduation, but his dream school is Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to major in something to do with physics, he said. 

He added that though he plans on applying to a lot of colleges and see what happens with that.

With a physics degree, he said, he would follow wherever that ended up taking him in his career journey.

"I like the idea of theoretical physics, thinking about all that stuff is pretty cool," Hart said. "I like the more conceptual side of stuff though as opposed to the empirical stuff."

He said he chose physics because when he was younger he was really into space and things like that, which had evolved being interested in astrophysics and getting into more the specifics of science.

"I figured out it was something I really enjoyed," he added.

He thinks that his experience in high school has taught him there is a lot he can do that he might've not realized in the beginning, he said.

"I think that the high school has taught me that I need to constantly need to be putting in that hard work and have my goals in mind, and just recognize that there's always a way to get where I want to be," he added.

At Havre High he has been involved in numerous extracurricular activities. He said he has been a part of Key Club since he was a freshman, was in speech and debate his sophomore year, last year he managed the swim team and is the current vice president of the Spanish Club.

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Online: National Merit Scholarship Corp .: https://www.nationalmerit.org .