Nearly 150 Kansas high school students were named semifinalists in a national scholarship program, including several students from Wichita-area schools.
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation on Wednesday announced more than 16,000 semifinalists across the United States in its 72nd annual competition.
The semifinalists will continue in the contest for about 6,700 National Merit Scholarships that will be offered in the spring. The scholarships are worth about $2,500.
To enter the contest, students must take either the Preliminary SAT or the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Students who earn the highest scores in their state are named semifinalists.
The following students in the Wichita area were named semifinalists:
- Andover Central — Evan Dalton, Madeleine Kaufmann
- Bishop Carroll — Emily S. Foster, Claire T. Stockemer
- Cheney High — Brin Bergkamp
- Goddard High — Kevin B. Kiralyfalvi, Abigael Ochweri, Aydan T. Pham
- Homeschool / Online School — Clara Mayans
- Hutchinson High — Nikon Sublett
- The Independent School — Benjamin Sackett
- Maize High — Josiah F. Johnson
- Maize South — Meenakshi P. Ghosh, Paige M. Kelly
- Valley Center High — Alla M. Hollowell
- Wichita Collegiate — Charles H. Basinger, Joshua C. Lee, Jackson F. Rukes
- Wichita East — Elijah Corpus, Logan Costa, Krishanu Demovic Ahmed, Eli Fox, Simon Hungria, Ashwatth Jagadeesh
- Wichita Heights — Adrian Le
- Wichita Northwest — Jarrett Bootsma, Phillip Bowers
To advance to the next stage and become a finalist, a semifinalist must fulfill several requirements.
The student and a school official must submit a detailed application, providing information about the student’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, leadership skills and more.
The student must write an essay and earn an SAT or ACT score that confirms their performance on the qualifying test.
About 95% of the semifinalists are expected to become finalists, and about half of those finalists will go on to win a scholarship. Winners will be announced between April and July of next year.
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation was established in 1955 to conduct the annual program. The non-profit organization underwrites scholarships with its own funds and funds from about 260 business organizations, higher education institutions and individual donors.
