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