Whittell Student named National Merit semifinalist

Whittell High School senior Olive Jillson Hamner is among the top 1 percent of students nationwide as a National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist.

Jillson Hamner was celebrated during the Douglas County School Board meeting on Tuesday for the achievement and recognized as the second semester student representative.

“We’re thrilled to celebrate Olive’s success and recognize her for the great work she’s been doing,” said Whittell High School Principal Sean Ryan. “There’s so much that makes students at Whittell unique and this honor reinforces the opportunities that are provided to all students at our small school.”

Jillson Hamner was among more than 16,000 highest-scoring entrants out of 1.3 million students nationwide who took the fall 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Qualifying Test as juniors, with the top-scoring participants from each state named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist.

Whittell High School achieved a five-star status with one of the highest ratings for a regular high school in the state. According to information released in mid-September by the Nevada Department of Education, the school achieved a total index score of 90.

Semifinalists have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 6,870 National Merit Scholarships worth $26 million, which will be awarded in the spring 2025. To be considered for the award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements including maintaining an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SACT or ACT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performances on the qualifying test.

Finalists are selected based on their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in future college studies.

The last Douglas County Student awarded the National Merit Scholarship was Douglas High School 2024 graduate Kevin O’Connell, who also earned a full four-year scholarship with the University of Reno.

“We have amazing teachers here (at Whittell) who care about our success and learning,” said Jillson Hamner. “We are small, so I can take the classes I want and receive the kind of help and mentoring needed to be successful.”

Jillson Hamner plans to study biomedical engineering at Dartmouth College.

“I’m looking forward to the opportunity and to further my education in something I am passionate about,” she said.

In recognition as the February student representative for the school board, Jillson Hamner said she had never done anything like this before, but is looking forward to the opportunity.

“I felt like it was an important opportunity for me to get involved in and help make a difference,” she said. “My goal is to make our district more united and to connect the schools down the mountain and here.”

The position for a student representative was pursued by 2024 Douglas High School graduate Madelynn Kennedy who envisioned a student seat at the board table as a non-voting participant to provide opinion, feedback and to foster a sense that the students of the district have a voice. She fought for the representation from May 2023 until she graduated. The position was approved as Board Policy 548 in July.

Before the start of the 2023-24 school year Student representative applicants had to submit a video for review by the board that outlined their involvement in school activities and what they plan to achieve as a student representative.

Superintendent Frankie Alvarado said a total of 7 students applied for the position, with two selected, one for each semester term of the school year.

Douglas High School senior Ender Dempsey was selected to begin the school year as the representative and Jillson Hamner will take over the position beginning in February.

Douglas High rated four stars with a total index score of 78.5, according to the Nevada Department of Education. Douglas High ranks ninth in the state among traditional schools, and was tied with McQueen.