NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP CORPORATION 1560 Sherman Avenue, Suite 200, Evanston, Illinois 60201-4897 (847) 866-5100 SEMIFINALISTS IN THE 2017 NATIONAL MERIT® SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM September 14, 2016 Announcement Contact: Eileen Artemakis or Matthew Budreau Phone: (847) 866-5100 Public Information E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.nationalmerit.org Advance: For release on Wednesday, September 14, 2016 Note to editors: Semifi nalists in your state are listed alphabetically by city and high school following this press release. This material is prepared solely for news media to announce the names of Semifi nalists; its use for any other purpose is prohibited. Caution: Using numbers of Semifi nalists to compare high schools, educational systems, or states will result in erroneous conclusions. The National Merit® Scholarship Program honors individual students who show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies. The program does not measure the quality or effectiveness of education within a school, system, or state. For more information about the competition, please visit NMSC’s website at www.nationalmerit.org. Semifi nalists in the 2017 National Merit® Scholarship Program (Evanston, Illinois) Today offi cials of National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced the names of approximately 16,000 Semifi nalists in the 62nd annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth about $33 million that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, Semifi nalists must fulfi ll several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. About 90 percent of the Semifi nalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and about half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title. NMSC, a not-for-profi t organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 specifi cally to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 420 business organizations and higher education institutions that share NMSC’s goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence. -more- Add one Semifi nalists in the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program Steps in the 2017 Competition About 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2015 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifi nalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest- scoring entrants in each state. The number of Semifi nalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors. To become a Finalist, the Semifi nalist and his or her high school must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the Semifi nalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. A Semifi nalist must have an outstanding academic record through- out high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school offi cial, write an essay, and earn SAT® scores that confi rm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test. From the approximately 16,000 Semifi nalists, about 15,000 are expected to advance to the Finalist level, and in February they will be notifi ed of this designation. All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from this group of Finalists. Merit Scholar 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. National Merit Scholarships Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2017. Every Finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit® $2500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state-representational basis. About 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be provided by approximately 230 corporations and business organizations for Finalists who meet their specifi ed criteria, such as children of the grantor’s employees or residents of communities where sponsor plants or offi ces are located. In addition, about 190 colleges and universities are expected to fi nance some 4,000 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who will attend the sponsor institution. National Merit Scholarship winners of 2017 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join more than 323,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title. # # # National Merit, Merit Scholarship, Merit Scholar, and the corporate “Lamp of Learning” logo are federally registered service marks of National Merit Scholarship Corporation. PSAT/NMSQT is a registered trademark of National Merit Scholarship Corporation and the College Board. SAT is a registered trademark of the College Board. DEERFIELD BEACH ST. THOMAS AQUINAS H. S. Semifinalists: 2017 National DEERFIELD BEACH H. S. 463 Boehm, Grace K. 160 Medina, Mathieu D. 200 Burnette, James H. Merit Scholarship Program 161 Seebaran, Natasha 600 D'Antonio, Kyle J. 162 Shringari, Sumant R. 450 Fraser, Luke B. 907 Grady, Martin J. DELRAY BEACH 450 Huck, Matyas P. AMERICAN HERITAGE SCHOOL 185 Lincoln, Timothy G. 303 Campbell, Jada M. 160 Louis-Jacques, Karl-Stephane FLORIDA CAPE CORAL 450 Darwish, Anna R. 999 Ramsey, Gabriela I. HOMESCHOOL 164 Mish, Lila S. 200 Trapani, Gianna 999 Williamson, Jacob D. 999 Nair, Srijith K. ALACHUA 628 Patel, Aashay WESTMINSTER ACADEMY SANTA FE H. S. CELEBRATION 870 Tonko, Megan A. 455 Renae, Collin B. 600 Triplett, Tiffany M. CELEBRATION H. S. 833 West, Griffin 162 Hollingsworth, Alexis N. FORT MYERS ALTAMONTE SPRINGS ATLANTIC COMMUNITY H. S. CANTERBURY SCHOOL LAKE BRANTLEY H. S. CLEARWATER 450 Das, Sagar L. 628 Chandar, Jay S. 302 Czech, Lauren A. ALLENDALE ACADEMY 712 Goltz, Dayna 000 Gros, Paul T. 000 Clark, Nicolette 720 Ochoa, Sabrina A. FORT MYERS H. S. 712 Harper, Amy A. 843 Rosen, Jordan W. 742 Kennedy, Joshua 906 Harvey, Erin M. COCOA 999 Negin, Elliot J. 450 Nolen, Stephanie L. SPACE COAST H. S. HOMESCHOOL 000 Salyer, Kaitlyn M. 161 Orozco Vega, Claudia D. 743 Bowen, Daniel H. 175 Garrett, Sophie I. 999 Wu, Elbert L. 463 Zuberi, Aliya AVE MARIA COCOA BEACH DORAL HOMESCHOOL COCOA BEACH H. S. DORAL ACADEMY CHARTER H. S. BISHOP VEROT H. S. 700 Henderson, Teresa M. 303 Gansler, Wilson V. 999 Arcia, Adriana R. 457 Kupsaw, Griffin E. 455 Olsson, Benjamin 999 Arellano, Armani M. BARTOW 854 Vogt, Jarod 742 Contipelli, Felipe G. FORT PIERCE INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE 999 Ziegler, Courteney S. JOHN CARROLL H. S. SCHOOL DORAL PERFORMING ARTS & 999 McGarry, Matthew J. 700 Beleri, Vasiliki COCONUT CREEK ENTERTAINMENT ACADEMY 710 Patel, Nandan S. ATLANTIC TECHNICAL H. S. 946 DeJesus, Katherine FORT WALTON BEACH 628 Silas, Mahima A. 162 Rowe, Melissa M. CHOCTAWHATCHEE H. S. RONALD W. REAGAN - DORAL H. S. 430 Funk, Hannah S. BOCA RATON MONARCH H. S. 121 Gazso, Gabor 450 Helmich, Kevin M. BOCA RATON COMMUNITY H. S. 907 Golio, Jack 168 Christie, Katherine 400 Lopez, Janet M. DOVER FORT WALTON BEACH H. S. 463 Faris, David J. STRAWBERRY CREST H. S. 607 Duffey, Bryan T. 628 Fleming, Kathleen T. NORTH BROWARD SCHOOL 600 Chacko, Kevin M. 160 Kerr, Susan L. 999 Blum, Jacob E. 628 Chandran, Nikitha GAINESVILLE 450 Taddonio, Matthew J. 999 Sandler, Ryan S. 453 Cooper, Sheamus BUCHHOLZ H. S. 742 Utsumi, Yuria 999 Shapiro, Evan M. 302 Delgado, Joshua 000 Campo, Christopher J. 454 Fashoro, Morenike T. 000 Khan, Tawhid S. FLORIDA ATLANTIC COOPER CITY 450 Ferguson, Phoebe M. 000 Killingsworth, Elijah J. UNIVERSITY H. S. COOPER CITY H. S. 160 Gaertner, Kristen E. 000 Kim, Eugene 185 Busheme, Cara E. 164 Counts, William L. 200 Hinton, Cameron S. 000 Nguyen, Kim-Anh 303 McGuire, Marcus 303 Goldstein, Benjamin J. 450 Kehrmeyer, Ryan J. 000 Shiau, Marie A. 628 Palumbo, Sarah A. 628 Harrington, Hunter 467 Shah, Devan S. 000 Song, Joanna 185 Rabil, Maximilian J. 843 Tamagni, Spencer T. 000 Stead, Thor S. 185 Sial, Nadia K. CORAL GABLES 000 Vemuri, Harish 461 Silverstein, Andrew E. CORAL GABLES H. S. EAGLE LAKE 000 Woodward, Elizabeth A. 870 Trombetta, Alexandria 740 Santer, Henry M. LAKE REGION H. S. 000 Zhang, Jason H. 870 Viscito, Angelica M. 999 Tang, Sarah L. OLYMPIC HEIGHTS 870 Viscito, Caterina M. EASTSIDE H. S. COMMUNITY H. S. ENGLEWOOD 000 Dong, Celena 185 Diana, Jessica A. CORAL SPRINGS LEMON BAY H. S. 000 Gillette, Amber K. CORAL SPRINGS H. S. 999 Hinkle, Sean D. 000 Hobert, Marisa J. SPANISH RIVER COMMUNITY H. S. 870 Hinson, Justin D. 000 Kaleem, Sahar 201 Giron, Daniel A. 200 Wan, Keanu L. FERNANDINA BEACH 000 Lampotang, Stephanie G. 161 Kristol, Jason A. FERNANDINA BEACH H. S. 000 Li, Dacheng 000 Rao, Patrick A. 559 Levin, Meredith S. CRAWFORDVILLE 629 Bayacal, Gabrielle C. 000 Ropp, Tanner W. WAKULLA H. S. 450 Clark, Jessica L. 000 Sidhu, Risham ST. ANDREW'S SCHOOL 940 Paris, Jason P. 451 Wardrop, Scott C. 999 Busel, Andrew 303 Clow, Andrew G. CUTLER BAY FORT LAUDERDALE GAINESVILLE H. S. 451 Kemp, Thomas A. 162 Haeffner, Brett CUTLER BAY H. S. FORT LAUDERDALE H. S. 628 Locascio, Logan 999 Kramer, Raymond E. 185 Afzali, Amir 950 Rogers, Madeline B. 162 Reneke, William WEINBAUM YESHIVA H. S. DAVIE 450 Scott, Elizabeth A. CARDINAL GIBBONS H. S. 450 Shuping, Alexander G. 906 Rose, Jonah COLLEGE ACADEMY AT BROWARD 467 Marsh, Cameron 303 Rosenthal, Lana G. COMMUNITY COLLEGE 454 Tight, Nora R.