The student: Neikille Moore, 16

School: River Hill High

Special achievement: National Merit Scholarship semifinalist. High school juniors are screened through their PSAT scores and then selected based on grades and activities. Neikille was "terribly surprised. I was actually ... questioning my academic abilities, and that's really helped me get back my confidence a lot."

Extracurricular activities in which she is involved: She is treasurer of her school's Future Business Leaders of America, which competed on the national level last year. She is also co-president of the student advisory board of the Academy of Finance. "You have to take a certain amount of business courses. You have to do a paid internship over the summer that you interview for, and you have to take a college course in your senior year" as a part of the program. For her internship at Amerix, "I got to work in the accounting department, the finance department, the mortgage department" doing financial analysis.

How did she become interested in finance? When she was 6 years old, "I used to take my dad's pens" that he had collected from business travel around the world "and sell them at school." By sixth grade, "I just liked the whole idea of telling other people what to do with their money and knowing how to handle my money."

Other interests: She is a National Honor Society member, plays varsity basketball, is on the staff of the school newspaper and is active in the Black Students Achievement Program.