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National Merit semifinalsts named

The National Merit Scholarship Corp. today announced the names of about 16,000 semifinalists in the prestigious National Merit Scholarship Program.

The local semifinalists, listed by high school, are:

-- Beloit Memorial—Emily A. Busam.

-- Evansville—Jeffrey E. Arnold.

-- Lake Geneva Badger—Braden J. Krien and Lane H. Sailer.

-- Lakeside Lutheran—Alec D. Brooks.

-- Milton—Elizabeth T. Camenga and Caitlyn R. Mumm.

-- Orfordville Parkview—Christina C. McCracken.

-- Williams Bay—Rebecca M. Hobbs.

The National Merit program honors individual students, so using numbers of semifinalists to compare high schools, educational systems, or states will result in erroneous conclusions, according to a news release.

These academically talented high school seniors continue in the competition for some 8,200 National Merit Scholarships, worth more than $36 million, that will be offered next spring.

About 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to be named finalists, and about half the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship.

More than 1.5 million high school juniors entered the 2010 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2008 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants.

Semifinalsts represent less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors and include 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 semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be recommended by the high school principal and earn SAT scores that confirm the student's earlier test performance.

The semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed application, including an essay and information about participation and leadership in school and community activities.

Scholarship winners of 2010 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July.