Sixteen students from local high schools have been selected as semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program, allowing them to compete for 6,870 scholarships worth nearly $26 million next spring and summer, organizers announced Wednesday.
Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to become finalists, and about half of those selected as finalists will win one of three types of National Merit Scholarships, the organization said in a news release. More than 16,000 high school seniors, less than 1% of high school seniors in the U.S., were named semifinalists based on their scores on the 2023 Preliminary SAT, which serves as a qualifying test. The number of semifinalists in each state is proportional to each state’s percentage of graduating seniors.
Local semifinalists, by school:
- Fort Collins High School – Zoe Anderson, Austin Evans, Logan Guggemos
- Fossil Ridge High School – Jaimie Dang, Natan Moss, Ia Reistad
- Liberty Common High School – Ovella Huddleston, Anagha Mathur, Andrew Nazeck, Zenen Van Maren
- Ridgeview Classical Schools – Christian Ehni
- Rocky Mountain High School – Tyson Bhalla, Renee Easterbrook
- Severance High School – Devin Bond
- Windsor Charter Academy – Anastacia Collins, Ethan Gopaul