TEN ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS STUDENTS NAMED NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP SEMIFINALISTS

Ten students from five Anne Arundel County public high schools have been selected as semifinalists in the 2015 National Merit Scholarship competition.

Five students from Severna Park High School led the list, as South River had two students, and Arundel, Broadneck, and Old Mill were represented by one student each. The prestigious list is comprised of about 16,000 student achievers nationwide.

“I am so proud of these students who have shown the discipline, diligence, and excellence it takes to achieve great things,” Superintendent of Schools George Arlotto said. “They are clear examples of the talent that exists in all of our students.”

Semifinalists in the competition, which is overseen by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, were selected from about 1.4 million juniors in nearly 22,000 U.S. high schools who were top scorers on the 2013 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).

About 90 percent of the semifinalists will advance to finalist status based on criteria such as academic record, recommendation by school principal, SAT performance, and participation and leadership in school and community activities. Finalists, who compete for coveted National Merit Scholarships, will be in announced in February.

The local semifinalists are:

Arundel High School

Julia Saams

Broadneck High School

Jeanne Luning Prak

Old Mill High School

Jamie Shade

Severna Park High School

Beatrice Chaudoin

Tec Lee

Connor Meyers

Alexander Nolte

Claire Witting

South River High School

Cassandra Boyle

Caterina Wu