On September 9, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced the names of approximately 16,000 Semifinalists in the 66th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Thirty-four Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools students earned Semi-finalist awards, representing Carrboro High School, Chapel Hill High School and East Chapel Hill High School.

These academically accomplished high school seniors can now continue in the competition for approximately 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $30 million that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. Over 90 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and about half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title.

Congratulations to all the Semifinalists, and good luck in the finalist round!

Carrboro High School:

Ryan Allen

Kieran M. Dewalt

John H. Duncan

Arwen A. Helms

Kyle D. Layzer

Heri S. Ongechi

Chapel Hill High School

Austin W. Chang

Wendy E. Eldred

Arun A. Kirk

Rachel S. Liu

Maria E. McAdam

Anoush Mudaliar

Izabela J. Pawlinski

Griffin C. Rahn

William J. Roberts

Sydney M. Runkle

Isabel S. Sharp

Alejandro A. Valdivia

Justin K. Wang

Ava C. Widener

East Chapel Hill High School:

Gabriel P. Ackall

Andy L. Dai

Christina Z. Gao

Yue-Bo Jia

Edward J. Mastin

Iris G. Reed

Olivia R. Reed

Kate G. Scheer

Olivia G. Stoll

Susanna Su

Sawyer W. Tremaine

Sophie E. van Duin

Richard Yuan

Neo Zhu