53 WCPSS Students Named Merit Scholar Semifinalists
September 11, 2008 – Fifty-three students from 11 Wake County Public School System high schools were among the approximately 16,000 semifinalists in the 54th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
The academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,200 Merit Scholarship awards worth $35 million that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, semifinalists must advance to the finalist level of the competition by fulfilling several requirements. About 90 percent of the semi finalists are expected to attain finalists standing and approximately half of the finalists will be selected as Merit Scholarship winners.
The WCPSS semifinalists include:
- APEX High School: Lewis A. McAlister, Michael S. Nokes and Nicholas S. Stidham
- BROUGHTON High School: Tyler A. Confrey-Maloney, Jonathan H. Edwards, Jordan A. Jones, Zachary A. Martin and Matthew S. Wiesner
- CARY High School: Nicholas L. Allen and Quinn N. Bajorek
- ENLOE High School: Laura C. Buff, Michael I. Chen, Hannah E. Darst, Pradeep B. Gopinathan, Ellis E. Gyongyos, Ian M. Harwood, Sarah N. Lineberry, Lilly Y. Liu, Alexander M. Madsen, Rachel E. Mazzara, Emily R. Myers, Rachel C. Rowe, Alexandra H. Snedeker, Bao M. Tran-Phu, Alexey A. Vasiliyev, Daniel R. Vitek, Anna S. Wormsbecher and Diana L. Xie
- FUQUAY-VARINA High School: Taylor F. Allison
- GREEN HOPE High School: Sean M. Bartell, Jennifer K. Fredette, Austin B. Gilmore, Brinda Monian, Gabriel D. Reynolds, Syed S. Saleh, Cheryl L. Schlitter and Andrew G. Wang
- LEESVILLE ROAD High School: Cody A. Hitchcock
- MIDDLE CREEK High School: Sarah Phillips and John M. Turner
- PANTHER CREEK High School: Mohammed S. Agha, Lauren A. Dixon, Rebecca Y. Liu, James Longley, Brighid M. Milan, Courtney J. Musciano, John T. Primm and Kyle A. Rogacki
- SANDERSON High School: Scott E. Herrmann, Margaret Pennisi and Dean S. Pixton
- SOUTHEAST RALEIGH High School: Christopher Kao and Kyle M. Swartz
More than 1.5 million juniors in nearly 21,000 high schools entered the 2009 National Merit Program by taking the 2007 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, which represents 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.
To become a finalist, a semifinalists must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by the school principal and earn SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier qualifying test performance. The semifinalists and a school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, which includes the students’ self descriptive essay and information about the semifinalist’s participation and leadership in school and community activities.
Approximately 15,000 semifinalists will advance to the finalist level and it is from this group that all Merit Scholarship winners will be chosen. Merit Scholarship designees are selected on the basis of 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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