Two Valley students designated National Achievement Scholarship semifinalists

YOUNGSTOWN — Two Youngstown area high school seniors are among 1,600 black high school seniors nationwide designated as semifinalists in the 45th annual National Achievement Scholarship competition.

Derrick A. High, a student at Youngstown Early College, and Esther A. Oder, a student at Liberty High School, now have an opportunity to compete for about 800 scholarships worth more than $2.6 million to be awarded next spring.

The National Achievement Program, conducted by National Merit Scholarship Corporation, is a privately financed academic competition initiated in 1964 to recognize academically promising black students. To date, more than 27,800 young men and women have received achievement scholarship awards worth more than $91 million.

For the complete story, see Thursday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com.