Local students named National Merit semifinalists

Six Jefferson City students were named semifinalists for the National Merit Scholarship.

The students are among 16,000 semifinalists in the nation. About 95 percent are expected to become finalists, and about half of those will win a National Merit Scholarship, according to a National Merit Scholarship Corporation news release.

All finalists compete for one of 2,500 scholarships of $2,500 each. There are also 950 corporate-sponsored scholarships with varied criteria and 3,800 college-sponsored merit scholarship awards for those who attend the institution.

The students selected as semifinalists in Jefferson City are:

• Natalie Sommerer of Calvary Lutheran High School.

• Josiah Abbott of Capital City High School.

• Landon Carney of Capital City High School.

• David Golden of Capital City High School.

• Joseph Raley of Helias Catholic High School.

• Cole Heller of Jefferson City High School.

Students entered the program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The pool of semifinalists is made up of the highest-scoring students in each state and represents less than 1 percent of high school seniors. Each state's number of semifinalists is proportional to the percentage of national total graduating seniors, according to the release.

Semifinalists need to have a great academic record, be recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn a SAT or ACT score that confirms their qualifying score. To become a finalist, the student and high school official must provide information about the student's academic record, activities, leadership, employment and awards.