Local seniors from region are merit semifinalists

About 90 percent of
semifinalists advance to the finalist stage.

YOUNGSTOWN — Nearly two-dozen area high school students have been named semifinalists in the 2008 National Merit Scholarship program.

These seniors have the opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,200 Merit Scholarship awards worth a total of $34 million to be presented next spring.

About 90 percent of the semifinalists advance to the finalist stage, and about half of the finalists are selected as Merit Scholarship winners.

More than 1.4 million of last year’s high school juniors entered the 2008 competition by taking the 2006 Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

The pool of 16,000 semifinalists represents less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors.

To advance to the finalist stage, students must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by the school principal and earn SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier qualifying test performance.

Semifinalists must submit a detailed scholarship application.

The finalists compete for $2,500 scholarship awards.

The winners will be announced between April and July 2008.

The local semifinalists and their high schools are:

OHIO

UCanfield High School: Fady E. Baky, Laura S. Dankovich and Tyler J. Reed.

ULakeview High School: Grace E. Brantingham.

UMineral Ridge High School: Megan E. Ault.

UPoland Seminary High School: Patrick J. Slattery, Heather A. Stefek and Joseph Vukovich.

USouthington: Home-schooled: Jeffrey M. Carpenter.

UWarren G. Harding High School: Maureen P. Sweet.

UBoardman High School: Abigail J. Dawson, Michael T. Fountaine and Gregory B. Knight.

UUrsuline High School: Tom G. Goldthwait, Jonathan M. Proch and Grace O. Sauline.

PENNSYLVANIA

UButler Area High School: Christian G. Bruggeman.

UGrove City Area High School: Christy M. Allison and Carolyn P. Augspurger.

UWilmington Area High School: Nicholas S. Riggall and Bjorn S. Wastvedt.

USlippery Rock Area High School: Rebecca L. Negley.