Emma Willard School's Natalie Smith Named Outstanding Participant in the 2012 National Achievement Program

TROY, NY (10/31/2011)(readMedia)-- Trudy Hall, head of school at Emma Willard School, one of the nation's leading college preparatory boarding and day schools for young women, has announced that Natalie Smith '12 (hometown here) has been named an Outstanding Participant in the National Achievement Scholarship Program and is being referred to U.S. colleges and universities.

Smith was among the students scored in the top three percent of more than 160,000 Black Americans who requested consideration in the 2012 National Achievement Program. A roster of these students' names, high schools, and tentative college choices is being sent to about 1,500 colleges and universities.

"We are so proud of Natalie to have distinguished herself in such an intellectually rigorous manner," said Hall. "That brainpower and achievement is astonishing and an example of the power of an Emma education."

The National Achievement Scholarship Program was initiated in 1964 specifically to honor academically promising Black American high school students. The annual scholarship competition is conducted by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, which also conducts the National Merit Scholarship program.

About Emma Willard School

As the oldest non-denominational girls' schools in the country, Emma Willard School has been empowering girls since 1814. Pioneering educator Emma Hart Willard founded the first school in the country to provide girls the same educational opportunities given to boys. Emma Willard School will celebrate its bicentennial in 2014.