Post updated at 9 a.m. Friday, Sept. 13:
Lawrence Public Schools are celebrating eight students who qualified as National Merit Semifinalists this year, and Eudora Schools are celebrating one senior who qualified.
Amaya Gab, Malcolm Karman, Richard Li, Noah Pultz-Earle, Elinor Russo, Anwen Williams and Lois Xie of Free State High School all made the cut, as did Elise N. Rathmel of Lawrence High School.
Eudora High School congratulated senior Kyleigh Heikes as a qualifier, according to a post on the district’s Facebook page.
Dylan Miller, of Baldwin High School, was also named a semifinalist, according to an announcement from the program.
“The program honors individual students who show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies,” according to a news release from Lawrence Public Schools.
More than 1.3 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the program by taking the Preliminary SAT, which serves as the initial screen of program entrants, according to the release.
The nationwide pool of semifinalist represents less than 1% of high school seniors and includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state.
“These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 6,870 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million offered next spring,” according to the release. “The National Merit Scholarship Corporation expects about 95 percent of semifinalists to attain finalist standing and approximately half of the finalists to win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title.”
This is the 70th year for the program, according to the release.
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