TROY — When his guidance counselor pulled Noah Carter out of class and asked Carter to follow him to the office, one thought ran through the Troy High School senior’s mind.

“Did I do something wrong?” Carter said.

No, quite the opposite, in fact. Minutes later, Carter would find out he had been named a National Merit Semifinalist by the National Merit Scholarship Program.

Carter recorded one of the top scores in the nation on the PSAT test, taken in the fall of 2022 by high school juniors. To be considered for a National Merit Scholarship, Carter must advance to Finalist standing in the competition by meeting high academic standards and all other requirements explained in the information provided to him by the National Merit Scholarship Program.

“Mr. (Charles) Metz pulled me from my class, brought me down into the fancy meeting room with all the staff members; they all filed in there and they told me,” Carter said. “And they were like, ‘You can call your parents. You can tell them.’ (My parents) were really excited to hear about it.”

Carter, the son of Julie and Jeremy Carter, said he was excited to find out he had been named a National Merit Semifinalist. He had a good feeling after he took the test, but didn’t want to get his hopes too high.

“I was pretty excited,” he said. “I mean, after taking the test, I looked into it and thought it could be something that happened, but I wasn’t expecting it. It’s very helpful. It’s a really nice thing to add to the college resume. The potential of the scholarship is really nice, too.”

Carter has a 4.4 grade point average, which puts him in the top 10 of his class. He’s been on the principal’s list every semester in high school, and last year, was the Rensselaer Medal Winner as the to the top mathematics student in the junior class

He’s a member of the Troy Academic Quiz Team, which won the school’s first league title last year and earned a trip to state. He’s also a member of the Math Club, Chess Club and Latin Club. He’s also done volunteer work for the Troy Historic Preservation Alliance.

He said the quality learning experience he’s had at Troy High School has helped him along his academic path

“I’ve had a lot of good teachers who have provided me with a deeper level of insight that allowed me to do well on the questions, whereas at another school, I might not have known or been able to answer questions,” Carter said.

After graduating from Troy in the spring, Carter said he plans to attend college and major in mechanical engineering. He’s looked at several schools, including The Ohio State University, Cornell University and Princeton University.

“I’m looking around,” Carter said. “Ohio State is the go-to for now. I plan to apply to a couple of really nice schools and hopefully one of them accepts me.”