Gieseke earns National Merit commendation
Trending
NEW ULM -- New Ulm High School senior Isaac Gieseke has been recognized by National Merit Scholarship Corporation as a commended student in the 2022 National Merit Scholarship Program.
Gieseke achieved recognition through his score on the 2020 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) he took last year as a junior. Of the approximately 1.5 million entrants taking the test, Gieseke placed among the top 50,000 students. Of the top 50,000 students, Gieseke was one of 34,000 to receive letters of Commendation for an outstanding academic promise.
Gieseke took the PSAT last year and he credited preparation for his success. Knowing he could receive an award for a top score, Gieseke took multiple practices tests before taking the PSAT.
For NUHS students, the PSAT was taken in the school gym.
"Basically for the first half of the day we were in there," Gieseke said. "They would give us the different sections. It was three or four hours."
Gieseke described the PSAT as a four-section test. It has four sections: a reading section, an English grammar and two math sections. One of the math sections allows calculator use, the other does not.
"I felt prepared," Gieseke said "and the PSAT is really only used if you get in the top part. If you do bad on it, it is not like the ACT where you have to give that to college."
This took off a lot of the pressure and Gieseke was able to achieve a high score. Out of a possible 1520, he scored 1460.
Gieseke learned of his high score last December. In September he found out he learned this score qualified him to receive the commendation.
The benefit of the commendation is it adds to a student's college resume and opens up a world of potential scholarships.
Gieseke is currently looking at several colleges. His top two schools are the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
"I am not completely sure what I want to do, but I am interested in engineering or biology," Gieseke said. He has not ruled out studying both fields. He plans to look into biomedical engineering as a possibility.
As a high school senior, Gieseke is currently enrolled in multiple college-level courses including calculus, American Government, public speaking and psychology. He also takes part in Knowledge Bowl, Student Council and is a member of the National Honor Society.