Naples student becomes national merit scholarship semifinalist

A Naples high school senior is a national merit scholarship semifinalist and the first ever for Village School of Naples.

Joseph Weaver, 18, took the PSATs like thousands of other seniors. But, unlike thousands of others who took the standardized test, Joseph scored in the top one percent nationwide.

“My PSAT score was a 1490,” Joseph said.

Scoring 1490 was good enough to qualify Joseph to be a national merit scholarship semifinalist. And make history as the first person ever to score that high for the Knights.

Dennis Chapman, head of the Village School of Naples noticed Joseph’s hard work and diligence.

“It’s hard work and perseverance and dedication obviously a lot of intellectual firepower as well but those two things put together is how he was able to make the score that he was able to achieve,” Chapman said.

Joseph got the news of his score last week while in class.

“I was in the middle of my English class and my guidance counselor pulled me out and showed me the email they had gotten that confirmed that I was accepted as a semifinalist,” Joseph said.

But, studiously Joseph had to return to class because he was kind of in the middle of something.

“I came right back in and finished my vocab test,” Joseph said.

But, cultivating a studious mind started far from the classroom, actually, it started on a napkin.

“My grandfather taught me how to do division when I was five or six, in Perkins on a napkin,” Joseph said.

Lessons from his family that reach beyond the classroom don’t go unnoticed either.

“He actually is one of the few high school students that consistently will give me a Christmas present every year so he’s very thoughtful which I love, but he’s also obviously very smart,” Chapman said.

Joseph’s parents were also national merit scholarship recipients, and he’s among 16,000 students who qualified as semifinalists. 15,000 students will become finalists but only half of them will receive scholarships.