Officials of National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced the names of more than 16,000 semifinalists in the 68th annual National Merit Scholarship Program, including six students from San Marino High School: Ryder Yoshitake, Kathy Jia, Ruoxin Jia, Melody Chen, Ching Lam Ma and Ingrid Wu.
These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,250 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28 million that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition.
About 95% of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and approximately half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.
NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 340 business organizations and higher education institutions that share NMSC’s goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.
First published in the Sept. 21 issue of the San Marino Tribune
