Students with merit

Five local students have earned the prestigious honor of being named semifinalists for the National Merit Scholarship Program.

Every year the Southeast Missourian features area students who reach this distinction. About 1.5 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2014 National Merit Scholarship Program. Less than 1 percent were selected as semifinalists.

Students who earned the distinction this year from our area were: Sierra Hughes, from Jackson Senior High School; Claire Schafer, Abbie Ritter and Maddie Baumgart from Notre Dame Regional High School; and Vikas Rudrappa, from Cape Girardeau Central High School.

From the approximately 16,000 students declared semifinalists, about 15,000 will advance to the finalist level, which will be announced in February. Every finalist will compete for one of the 2,500 National Merit $2,500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state representational basis, as well as nearly 5,000 corporate and college-sponsored merit scholarships.

To become a finalist, semifinalists must submit a detailed scholarship application that outlines their academic achievements, leadership skills and participation in school and community activities. Semifinalists also must earn high SAT scores and write an essay.

Congratulations to these five students for their academic excellence. We wish them the best on their finalist applications and their post-high school pursuits.