Semifinalists from Miami Valley high schools include:
Beavercreek High School
Kathleen A. Clark, Constance J. Fung, Alexander W. Hamlin, Sayan Manna, Sahana Venkatesh
Bellbrook High School
William N. Barton, Andrew G. Hoffbauer, Melanie M. Slone
Cedarville High School
Ian A. Mortensen
Centerville High School
Benjamin N. Africk, Shubham M. Chandra, Demi Fang, Gregory J. Feingold, Ryan J. Gimm, Kendra N. Johnson, Joseph B. Lin, Amelia A. McBee, Susan M. Meyer, Caroline T. Smallwood, Amelia M. Paulding, Andrea E. Tsatalis
Spring Valley Academy
Kerstin D. Smith
Carroll High School
Ashley L. Aker, Ryan R. Dull, Zachary R. Schaub
Chaminade Julienne High School
Samuel R. Wittman
Dominion Academy
Joseph R. Gross
Miami Valley School
James J. Ullett
Oakwood High School
Sophia M. Cothrel, Rebecca Deal, Benjamin G. Gallatin, Elizabeth M. Huizenga, Samuel P. Stanley, Ryan M. White
Bishop Fenwick High School
Michael A. Burton
Hamilton High School
Mariah N. Craft and homeschool student Noah Keating-Adams
Archbishop Alter High School
Elizabeth R. Kunesh, Jason M. Thompson
Kettering Fairmont High School
Samuel E. Bodary, Blake J. Rasor, Daniel E. Schnipke
Lakota East High School
Jeffrey A. Black, Christina M. Clyde, Meghan E. Gibbons, Sophia H. Li, Jamie A. Silva, Jasmine Tuazon
Springboro High School
Swaramsi Katragadda, Allison C. White
Troy High School
Fiona K. Foster
Lakota West High School
Ethan D. Bennett, Paul J. Register, Abd Alrahman Traboulsi and homeschool student Amber N. Nix
Source: National Merit Scholarship Corporation
Fifty five Miami Valley high school seniors are semifinalists in the 2013 National Merit Scholarship program and Centerville High School leads the area with 12.
The seniors are among 16,000 semifinalists in the 58th annual program. Those selected as finalists in February can compete for 8,300 National Merit Scholarships — worth more than $32 million — that will be offered in the spring.
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation based in Evanston, Ill., is a nonprofit organization established in 1955 to conduct the annual scholarship program. The scholarships are underwritten by the corporation with its own funds and by approximately 440 business organizations and higher education institutions that share the corporation’s goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions.
There are three types of scholarships that vary in amount and duration but some can total as much as $40,000.
“Some corporate-sponsored renewable scholarships provide variable stipends that are individually determined, taking into account college costs and family circumstances. Some of these variable corporate-sponsored awards could be as much as $10,000 per year,” said Eileen Artemakis, a National Merit program spokeswoman.
Jon Wesney, coordinating principal at Centerville High School, which has two more semifinalists than last year, believes the strong showing has to do with the school’s programming.
In addition to the 12 semifinalists, the school has 23 students who earned commended status and one student who received the National Merit Achievement Scholar Award.
“I think a major reason these 36 seniors have earned this national distinction is they have taken advantage of our comprehensive curriculum offerings; in fact, some 47 percent of middle and high school students take at least one enriched or advanced class each day,” Wesney said in a statement posted on the district’s web site.
About 1.5 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2013 National Merit Scholarship program by taking the 2011 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as the initial screen of program entrants.
The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.
A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.
About 15,000 semifinalists are expected to advance to the finalist level and will notified of that designation in February. Of those finalists, roughly half are selected for the scholarships based on their skills, accomplishments and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin or religious preference.
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