Ten Shady Side Academy seniors were named semifinalists in the 62nd annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These academically talented students will continue in the competition for 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth approximately $33 million that will be offered next spring.

The SSA semifinalists are:

• Brian Foster
• Chirag Kulkarni
• Jacob Lokay
• William Lu
• Jesse Plung
• Rakesh Ravi
• AnnaElaine Rosengart
• Thomas Scherlis
• Emily WInterhalter
• Eric Zhang

About 1.6 million high school juniors 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 semifinalists, which represents less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest scoring entrants in each state.

To become a finalist, the semifinalist and his/her school 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, write an essay and earn SAT scores that confirm the student's earlier performance on the qualifying test. Of the 16,000 semifinalists, 15,000 are expected to advance to the finalist level in February.

Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered this spring. Every finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit $2500 Scholarships, awarded on a state representational basis. About 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarships will be awarded to finalists who meet the sponsoring organization's criteria. About 190 colleges will award 4,000 college-sponsored Merit Scholarships to finalists who attend the sponsor institution.

Congratulations to all 10 students!