Two Howland High School seniors have been recognized for their exceptional academic promise. Theresa Cranston and Robin Hakimian have been named semifinalists in the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program.
Cranston and Hakimian are two of approximately 16,000 high school seniors who qualified as a semifinalist. Each year, approximately 50,000 academically talented high school students are honored through the National Merit Scholarship Program, but only 16,000 of them are named semifinalists. Students qualify as semifinalists based on their performance on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. About 7,600 of the outstanding finalists will be chosen as Merit Scholarship winners in the 2021 competition.
In school, Cranston is involved in band as a saxophone section leader for the marching band and pep band, and she plays baritone saxophone in the symphonic and jazz bands. She performs with the Howland Drama Club, and she is a member of the National Honor Society, Howland Unity, World Language Club and HHS Serves. After graduation, Cranston plans to study accounting and political science and hopes to continue on to law school.
In school, Hakimian is involved in the symphonic band as a first chair trumpet player. He also served as a trumpet section leader in marching band this past season. He is the co-leader of student tutoring at HHS. He is a dedicated National Honor Society member, helping with various community activities: literacy nights at Howland elementary schools, Howland United Methodist Church initiative of providing food to the less fortunate families in our town, etc. Moreover, Hakimian is a varsity tennis player with the HHS tennis team. After graduation, Hakimian plans to study biochemistry, a major that will widen his array of career opportunities in medical sciences, a field he is interested in.