Local Students Named Semifinalists in 2008 National Merit Scholarship Program

Several local Fulton County school students are among those named as semifinalists in the 53rd annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These scholastically-talented high school seniors now continue in the competition for 8,200 Merit Scholarship awards, a value of approximately $34 million.

This is the first round of competition for students seeking the distinction of being named a National Merit Scholar and receiving scholarship money associated with it. Finalists will be named in the winter and the scholarship winners will be announced in the spring.

The students were identified through exceptionally high scores on the PSAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which they took as juniors last school year. As semifinalists, the students now must fulfill several requirements in order to advance to the finalist round. They must have a record of high academic performance, be endorsed and recommended by their school principal, and earn SAT scores that confirm their earlier qualifying test performance.

A detailed scholarship application, which includes the student’s self-descriptive essay and information about his or her participation and leadership in school and community activities, also must be submitted.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation conducts the annual National Merit Scholarship and National Achievement Scholarship programs. Scholarships awarded through the programs are underwritten by business organizations and higher education institutions, as well as by the organization’s own funds.

Alpharetta High School students who earned the distinction include Matthew J. Atkins, Regina Chang, Raymond H. Chouinard, Jack A. Holkeboer, Stefanie Olivier, Julia Y. Pei and Milson Yu.

Centennial High School’s honorees are Emma R. Bennett, Harrison R. Brown, Gregory T. Colella, Yaanik Desai, Elizabeth J. George, Kirsten S. Hessler, John A. Mollick, Jonathan R. Peak and Emilio Salazar-Cardozo.

Chattahoochee High School is represented by Howtyen Dong, Sai Im, Yashu Jiang, Gloria K. Kang, Adam Liem, Simon A. Mettler, Daniel M. Siedschlag, Nancy J. Thakkar and William Tung.

Milton High School’s semifinalists are Jacqueline R. Cantwell, Savannah L. Cookson, Sarah C. Courtney, Erin M. Giglio, Scott H. Reed, Lisa K. Thornsberry and Kristin N. Ward.

Roswell High School students who distinguished themselves in the competition include Mona Ahmad, Jonathan G. Beker, Margaret M. Daly, Eddy B. Ferreira, Andrea C. Folds, Gabriella M. Graziano, Peter T. Ianakiev, Leroy L. Jia, Alisha A. Kasam, Valeria Makeeva, James T. Mathis, Harriet C. McClean, Kelsea Norris, Biplab Panda and Daniel Walker