News
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Semifinalists and Commended Students in the 2008 National Merit Scholarship Program
Each fall the semifinalists and commended students in the National Merit Scholarship Program are identified, based on scores from the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) taken during their junior year. The PSAT/NMSQT, administered to 1.4 million juniors in 2006, is the screening tool of program entrants. The 16,000 semifinalists, which are less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, must have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by the school principal, and earn high SAT scores that confirm the students’ PSAT/NMSQT performance. Following their identification, each semifinalist and a school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, which includes an essay and information about the student’s participation and leadership in school and community activities. From that pool, approximately 15,000 will advance to finalist standing in the spring of 2008 and be considered for merit scholarship awards, which are announced in April.
The National Merit Scholarship Program has identified 21 semifinalists and 48 commended students in the Santa Barbara School Districts.
SANTA BARBARA HIGH SCHOOL
National Merit Semifinalists: Cole Patterson and Brett Silverman
Commended Students: William Cross, Amber Ha, Dinah Parker, Nancy Phelps, Jonathan Ring, Maxwell Ronci, Jacqueline Rotman, Brian Rowse, Michael Salvucci, Mary Stilwell, David Weiss, and Anthony Yoshimura
SAN MARCOS HIGH SCHOOL
National Merit Semifinalists: Justin Feng, Kristin Hempy, Alexander Kayfetz-Gaum, Nari Miller, Landon Ranck,
Kristen Sharer
Commended Students: Gabriel Burnworth, Alessandra Chardon, Kenneth Hasegawa, Trevor Hillebrand, Jonathan Kuhn, William McBride, Valerie Mehlschau, Julie Srednicki, Brenda Welsh, Claire Woodard.
DOS PUEBLOS HIGH SCHOOL
National Merit Semifinalists: Erika Bildsten, Kevin Cheng, Julia Cooperman, Isobel Dewey, Sarah Ellsworth,
Isaiah Lin, Scott Martinis, Joseph McDaniel, Rachael McPhail, John Riggs, Leah Savage, Wei Wu, Nicole Zok
Commended Students: Ryan Beall, Geoffery Bell, Einar Birnir, Kristin Boehm, Christina Bonsell, William Campbell, Anthony Demaria, Alexander Dunn, Erika Eskenazi, Patrick Fay, David Herschorn, Leslie Hill, Dana Iltis, Aria Jacobsen, Wei Jiang, Trevor Johnson, Robert Kim, Yena Kim, Trevor Kosmo, Jack Lander, Matthew Logan, Kayla Mark, Jessica Nelson, Jeannette Senn, Daniel Turvey, Cassidy Yost.