Congratulations to students on National Merit Scholarship semifinal list

Congratulations to students from Patrick Henry, La Jolla, Mira Mesa, Pt. Loma, Scripps Ranch and University City high schools that are on the list of National Merit Scholarship semifinalists, released Sept. 14.

Qualifying as semifinalists means the students are in the running for some of the $34 million that will be divided among recipients this spring by the National Merit Scholarship Program. The program estimates that about 90 percent of the semifinalists will advance to be finalists, with more than half of those receiving scholarships or other assistance.

The semifinalists are: Sophia Quiroz from Patrick Henry High; Erica Eisen, Ryan Farley, Grace Henahan, Meredith Lehmann, Ryan Mann, Yuhao Wang, Ashley Weller, Qian Zhang and Ardis Zhong from La Jolla; Anglea Pham, Mira Mesa; Anthony Cook, Pt. Loma; Sarah delos Santos, Jacob Fineman, Brian Hie, Kevin Hu, Ryan Seo, Hyungjin Shin, Vivek Vishwanath and Amy Zheng, Scripps Ranch; and Kyle Ingraham and Hailan Pang, University City.

"I join everyone in the San Diego Unified School District, and in the San Diego community, in recognizing the hard work and achievement demonstrated by these students," said Bill Kowba, San Diego Unified Superintendent. "We wish them the best of luck in completing the process and receiving their scholarship."

Winners of the scholarships will be announced this spring.

According to National Merit, semifinalists must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by the high school principal, and earn SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test in order to advance to the final level. The semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, which includes the student’s essay and information about the semifinalist’s participation and leadership in school and community activities.