To: Editors/Reporters

Re: NYACK HIGH STUDENT NAMED SEMIFINALIST IN THE NATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT SCHOLARSHIP COMPETIION

Date: November 21, 2001

Contact: Gail Fleur, Public Information

Nyack High School senior, TIFFANY CLARKE, has been named a SemiFinalist in the 38th Annual National Achievement Scholarship Program. The Program, a privately financed academic competition for Black American high school students, is conducted by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation and was initiated in 1967 to honor outstanding Black students and to increase their educational opportunities.

More than 110,000 Black students entered the 2001 competition by requesting consideration when they took the 2000 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) as high school juniors. Approximately 1500 high school seniors have been named Semifinalists, designated on a regional representational basis as the highest scoring entrants in the states that make up their geographic area.

These scholastically promising young men and women now have an opportunity to continue in the competition for over 700 Achievement Scholarship Awards worth some $2.5 million that will be offered next spring for college undergraduate study. The Program operates without government assistance and the awards will be supported by corporate organizations, professional associations, higher education institutions and NMSC's own funds.