The annual National Merit Scholarship Corporation has announced 16,000 semifinalists from the 1.4 million students who took the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test last year. These semifinalists will be able to compete for 7,600 National Merit Scholarships that amount to $33 million in value, to be offered this spring.

Val Samsanov, one of the semifinalists, prepared by taking a summer PSAT preparatory course. To increase his vocabulary during his studying process, he wrote down names of books and words he did not know so he could research their meanings.

“Everyone has the opportunity to become a semifinalist in this program if they work hard,” Samsanov said.

Another source of help available to students seeking to improve test scores is Director of College Test Preparation at Lafayette, Mary Mueller.

According to College Specialist Cheryl Egan, Mueller is proactive in helping students improve their test scores.

The semifinalists from the Rockwood School District include:

Hannah Aufdembrink, Lafayette
Gabriela Avila, Lafayette
Matthew Chan, Marquette
Kayla Eckardt, Lafayette
Sanjay Elangovan, Marquette
James Fields, Eureka
Aravinda Ganapathy, Marquette
Nicole Gratzer, Marquette
Rebecca Handler, Lafayette
Kristine Huang, Lafayette
Conor Kelleher, Lafayette
Judy Kim, Lafayette
Jessica Knobbe, Eureka
Catherine Lambert, Marquette
Matthew Laux, Lafayette
Trishna Limaye, Marquette
Allyson Lotz, Eureka
Vinithra Madapoosi, Lafayette
Poornaashri Malarvannan, Marquette
Erin Newcomer, Lafayette
Erin Nischwitz, Lafayette
Akhil Pulumati, Lafayette
Michael Robinson, Marquette
Asa Royal, Lafayette
Ezekiel Sabbert, Rockwood Summit
Valeriy Samsonov, Lafayette
Mason Smith, Marquette
Rennie Svirnovskiy, Marquette
Katherine Trout, Lafayette
Mitchell Wells, Lafayette
Lillian Wu, Lafayette
Julia Zigman, Marquette

“This is an amazing organization that has been around a while. Students benefit a lot, being sought after by colleges and offered full ride scholarships just for being recognized as a semifinalist,” College Specialist Stephanie Nesler said.

Both Nesler and Egan feel the students at this school are amazing and achieving semifinalist status in National Merit is an honor which awards students well for their academic achievement.