National Merit semifinalists

Bofeng Chen, Augustus Ellis, Thomas Laroche, Grace Li, Jason Liu, Christopher Nguyen, Kevin Shao, Janie Vo, Shannon Wu, Steven Xu and Annie Zhang number among 16,000 semifinalists nationwide thanks to high scores on the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test during their junior year.

More than 1.5 million students in about 22,000 high schools entered this year's scholarship program. The semifinalists, who represent less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors, include the highest-scoring test-takers in each state.

Finalists will compete for approximately 8,300 National Merit scholarships worth more than $32 million next spring. Merit Scholars are selected for their skills, accomplishments and potential for success in rigorous college studies.

To become Merit Scholar finalists, semifinalists must have outstanding academic records throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by their principals and earn high SAT scores. In addition, they must show leadership experience in school and community activities.

Finalists will compete for the following awards:

• 2,500 National Merit scholarships (worth $2,500 each) awarded on a state-representational basis
• 1,000 corporate-sponsored National Merit scholarships provided by approximately 240 corporations/business organizations
• 4,800 college-sponsored National Merit scholarships from 200 colleges and universities for finalists who will attend the sponsor institution