Sacramento region has 63 National Merit Scholar semifinalists
Sixty-three students in the four-county Sacramento region were named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists this week, placing them well within the top 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors. Students qualified by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test last year as juniors.
Nationwide, about 16,000 students out of 1.6 million who took the test are semifinalists. They are eligible to become finalists and compete for scholarships by submitting a detailed application in which they list their academic credentials, school and community activities, work history and awards. They also must write an essay and earn high scores on the regular SAT.
In the Sacramento region that includes El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo counties, Davis High School has the most semifinalists with 16. Mira Loma High School, which has a renowned International Baccalaureate program that attracts students from across the area, has 13 semifinalists.
El Dorado County
El Dorado
Lai, Jessica G.
Oak Ridge
Chew, Kyoko P.
Gould, Conner M.
Wismar, Mae L.
Zhu, Aretha Y.
Ponderosa
Dodd, Miranda L.
Placer County
Granite Bay
Mahmoudieh, Younes
Petersen, Emma L.
Warady, Michaela D.
Oakmont
Mecklenburg, Nicholas R.
Pahkim, Justin R.
Stefanescu, Kristen
Placer
Schoenhoff, Grace M.
Western Sierra Collegiate Academy
Low, Henry G.
Rebollo, Malia T.
Sacramento County
Antelope
Walser, Morgan
Bella Vista
Tripp, Samantha A.
Viens, Robb A.
Cosumnes Oaks
Ficht, Michelle M.
Folsom
Kim, Randy
Sun, Fang-yi V.
Swanson, Elizabeth M.
Jesuit
Caslin, Patrick T.
Spieler, Riley S.
Laguna Creek
Nessipbekov, Daut
Mira Loma
Dhanireddy, Saibhavesh R.
Fang, Kevin Z.
Gunendran, Naveen
Hall, Thomas E.
Handa, Gunmay
Howard, Noah W.
Johnson, Kendall T.
Pimenta, Jeffrey S.
Roy, Sagar
Srinivasan, Vijay R.
Tateishi, Victoria S.
Yu, Justin
Zhang, Evelyn S.
Pleasant Grove
Nguyen-Sanh, Quynh
Rosemont
Zhuang, Joey S.
Sacramento Country Day School
Fackenthal, Marigot K.
St. Francis
Ryan, Natalie E.
Vista Del Lago
Dusanapudi, Teja S.
Katiyar, Eashaan
Kreiser, Bryce
West Campus
Kim, Emily
Torres, Elena
Yolo County
Davis
Ainsworth, Isabella J.
Brandt, Jesse A.
Chiu, David
Cross, Benjamin E.
Duan, Lauren
Kabuli, Leyla A.
Korinke, Scott
Laird, Jackson P.
Lara, Joshua D.
Leacox, Kyla W.
Liu, Benjamin
Moeller, Bryton L.
Murphy, Jasper C.
Thomsen, Emma D.
Yankelevich, Beatriz S.
Zheng, Andrea L.
This story was originally published September 15, 2016 at 3:38 PM with the headline "Sacramento region has 63 National Merit Scholar semifinalists."