De Soto High School senior Christian Sweeney was recently selected as a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist. This year, Sweeney is the only senior from De Soto High School to receive the honor joining recent graduates Parker Riley, Philip Kaul and Austin Showen.

Last October, Sweeney scored a 214 out of 240 possible points on the Preliminary SAT (PSAT). His highest score came from the reading section of the test which he attributes to the work he did in Philip Hamilton’s AP Language and Composition Class.

“Not only did I score well on the PSAT, but my ACT score improved as well. Overall, my English [score] improved from a 27 to a 34 and my reading [score] went from a 32 to a 36. I ended up getting a 34 [composite score],” Sweeney said.

In late November, Sweeney hopes to hear who the National Merit finalists are.

His future plans include attending West Point and becoming an officer in the United States miltary.

“Over Christmas break last year, I decided that I needed to figure out what I was going to do next and researched my options,” Sweeney said.

He ultimately came to the conclusion of joining the Army.

“I want to be in the Army so that I can fight overseas and fight for what I believe is right,” Sweeney explained.

So far, Sweeney has completed the application for the U.S. Military Academy and is now preparing for interviews with senators and congressmen so he can be nominated for the application.

“Being a National Merit semifinalist will improve my academic score which is about 60 percent of the admissions process [for West Point],” Sweeney said.

“I would suggest to sophomores to take the PSAT their sophomore year, because it will help when they take it their junior year,” Sweeney suggested.