Eight 207 students named National Merit semifinalists

Eight Maine Township High School District 207 students have been honored as semifinalists in the 2015 National Merit Scholarship Program competition.

Named as semifinalists are Michael Lee and Daniel Parra from Maine East High School, and Sarah Asson, Emilie LeMieux, Matthew Pierucci, Alexander Solberg, Samantha Zaug and Lydia Zuehsow from Maine South High School.

These academically talented seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth about $33 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. About 90 percent of semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and more than half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship.

Nationwide, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation recently announced the names of approximately 16,000 semifinalists in the 60th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

These are among the highest scoring of the 1.4 million students who took the Preliminary Qualifying test. Students enter the competition by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test during their junior year.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation is a nonprofit organization established in 1955. Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 440 business organizations and higher education institutions with the goals of honoring the nation's scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.

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