The National Merit Scholarship Corp. recently announced the names of about 16,000 semifinalists in the 58th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,300 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million that will be offered next spring.
To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition.
Students entered the Scholarship Program by taking the 2011 Preliminary SAT-National Merit Scholarship QualifyingTest, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state.
Local semifinalists include:
Benjamin Fait, Danville Area High School.
Tynan Dion, Lewisburg Area High School.
Allen J. Marks, Towanda High School.
Matthew S. Fox and Daniel Z. Ma, Williamsport Area High School.
