Students at local schools earn National Merit honor

About 40 local high school seniors have been named semifinalists in the annual National Merit Scholarship Program, based on their strong performance on the preliminary SAT exam (PSAT) last school year.

About 1.6 million juniors nationwide took the PSAT last year, and roughly 16,000, or 1 percent, were named semifinalists based on their scores, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

The local semifinalists include students from local public, Catholic and private schools, as well as a home-schooled student.

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Semifinalists can apply to earn finalist status and compete for 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million that will be offered next spring. To do so, they must have an outstanding academic record, be recommended by a high school official, and earn SAT scores that confirm their earlier performance on the qualifying test.

About 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing in February, and about half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship.

Here are the local winners, in alphabetical order by high school:

ALTER

James T. Collins

Kate Louthain

BEAVERCREEK

William M. Chan

David C. Cohen

Diana A. Dinh

Brian Dong

Rachel E. Goehring

Zhan Peng Kuang

Peyton M. Orloff

Amy Sihn

Ziyi Zuo

BELLBROOK

Andrew Haberlandt

Eva J. Hanson

CARROLL

Toan Le

Peter J. Menart

CEDARVILLE

Benjamin L. Heath

CELINA

Madeline M. Elston

CENTERVILLE

Noor Ali

Ramzi K. Elased

Megan J. Knauer

Caroline M. Kost

Samith Venkatesh

Evan M. West

Kyle M. Westhaus

FAIRMONT

Luke M. Keller

MIAMISBURG

Ethan F. Knapp

MIAMI VALLEY SCHOOL

Risha Annamraju

John H. Butler

MINSTER

Erin Keller

MONROE

Rachel N. Ploeger

OAKWOOD

Joseph M. Caley

Hannah R. Grupe

Connor P. Morris

Sara E. Pierce

SPRINGBORO

Lindsey Coffin

Isaac S. Poplin

Hannah R. Stumpfl

Rees D. Warns

VANDALIA-BUTLER

Troy Abele

WAPAKONETA

Loren K. Hire

XENIA, HOMESCHOOL

Catherine T. Mohs

YELLOW SPRINGS

Peter A. Day

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