Congratulations to Prabhleen Kaur, Jonathan Steele, and Nicole Zhang! These seniors have been named 2021 National Merit Scholarship semifinalists, taking the first step in the highly selective process to earn the distinguished finalist honor.

These high achieving students represent the top 1% in the country.

The students were among some 16,000 nationwide that were chosen from a pool of 1.5 million.

All semifinalists have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,600 National Merit Scholarship awards worth more than $30,000 to be awarded in spring 2021.

To move onto the finalist round, students are judged based on an application covering their academic record, leadership abilities, employment, participation in school and community activities, and honors and awards received.