Four Brighton Students Named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists

Four Brighton students are among about 16,000 semifinalists in the 57th annual National Merit Scholarship program.

students Will McPeek and Andrea Saxman, student Brittany Marshall and home-schooled student Adam Slemp will compete with other semifinalists for 8,300 scholarships totaling more than $34 million that will be offered to high school seniors in the spring, the National Merit Scholarship program announced last week.

According to the program, about 1.5 million high school juniors in 22,000 high schools were entered into the National Merit Scholarship competition this year by taking the qualifying Preliminary SAT (PSAT) test.

Finalists will be selected based on high school academic records, endorsement by the school principal, SAT scores and school and community activities.

The National Merit Scholarship program says about 15,000 students are expected to achieve finalist status. Scholarship winners will be selected from the finalist group based on skills, accomplishments and potential for success in college.

Winners will be announced beginning April through July 2012.