11 Rochester Students Named National Merit Semifinalists

Officials from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced on Wednesday the names of 16,000 Semifinalists in the 58th Annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

Eleven Rochester students made the list, which represents less than 1 percent of high school seniors nationwide.

These high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for 8,300 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million that will be offered next spring.

From Rochester and Rochester Hills, the following Semifinalists were named:

Rochester High School

• Adhitya Venkatesh
• Kelly L. Yu

Adams High School

• Zhibin Deng
• Kimberley E. Hamrick
• Michelle G. Jin
• Erica A. Liao
• Gabrielle Thivierge 

Stoney Creek High School

• Benjamin R. Bray 
• Bradley C. Stanton
• Kevin Zhu 

Homeschool

• Holly R. Ryan

About 1.5 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2013 National Merit Scholarship Program last year by taking the 2011 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants.

To become a Finalist, the Semifinalist and their high school must submit a detailed scholarship application in which they provide information about the Semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, 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.

From the approximately 16,000 Semifinalists, about 15,000 are expected to advance to the Finalist level and in February they will be notified 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.

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