Students from 16 local schools crack top 1 percent on national test

More than 60 local high school seniors were named National Merit Semifinalists this week, based on their academic performance on the Preliminary SAT exam last school year.

About 1 percent of the 1.6 million students who took the PSAT nationally earned semifinalist status, by posting the highest scores in their state. Those students will be eligible for scholarships later this year through the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

RELATED: See photos and bios of local 2018 valedictorians

RELATED: See photos and bios of local 2017 valedictorians

Centerville, Beavercreek, Oakwood and Springboro high schools accounted for the majority of the local semifinalists.

Each state gets a certain number of semifinalists, proportional to its share of the nation’s students, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, so the cutoff score varies from state to state.

Numerous other students who just missed the cutoff score are named Commended Students.

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Here are the local semifinalists, by school:

Beavercreek: Sonia Beltz, Nora Himed, Tiffany Huang, Abigail Kurian, Brianna Mallare, Rachel McNutt, Anthony Ngo, Hari Parameswaran, Brian Rihm, Anthony Veneziano, Dhira Venkatramani, Kayla Vonder Embse.

Bellbrook: Rachel Kahler, Elise Kemper, Andrea Szep

Bishop Fenwick: Sean McCarthy

Carlisle: Ryland Scott

Centerville: Kevin Fillingim, Sanjeev Gunawardena, Miranda Ingram, Shravan Kalahasthy, Hyunil Kim, Kyu-bin Kong, Logan Matson, Emma Meilinger, Justin Moell, Jamaluddin Pracha, Olivia Ralston, Benjamin Thomas, Kevin Yin

Chaminade Julienne: Avery Meyer

Clinton-Massie: Joshua Hurley

Covington: Seth Daly, Elizabeth Schafer

Homeschooled (Beavercreek): Josiah Virnig

Kettering Fairmont: Elizabeth Cordonnier, Conor Doyle, Luke Kremer

Lebanon: Emma Miller, Megan Palmer

Miamisburg: Alexander Chapman

Miami Valley School: Amay Kejriwal, Vennela Vallabhaneni

Oakwood: William Ayres, Gabrielle Echevarria, Rebecca Gentry, Maria Gorman, William Janning, Jack Lynch, Charles Ross, Peter Salisbury, Taylor Shineman, Philippa Zhang

Springboro: William Bach, Cole Mousa, Evan Phillippi, Shea Schell, Grace Sullivan, Samuel Ulrich, Spencer Virtue, Heema Vyas, Joshua Wang

Troy: Ethan West

Vandalia-Butler: Donald Long

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