Eight students from Blacksburg High School have achieved the distinction of being designated semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship competition.
The semifinalists are Neal R. Kimba, James L. Mathai, Isaac S. McPherson, Deniz G. Olgun, Ainsley S. Raymond, Eric Xie, Cato Zhong and Joseph A. Zobel.
Less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors (about 66,000 students) achieve semifinalist status in the scholarship competition. More than 1.5 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2019 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The semifinalists are the highest-scoring entrants in each state with the number proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.
The eight students from Blacksburg High School have the chance to continue in the competition for some 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $30 million that will be offered in the spring.
To become a finalist, the semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application that provides information about the semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official and write an essay to move on in the competition.
The National Merit Scholarship winners of 2021 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join more than 353,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.