Fifteen seniors are National Merit semifinalists, one Achievement semifinalist and 34 commended

ROSEMOUNT, Minn. -- Fifteen District 196 high school seniors have been named semifinalists in the 2012-13 National Merit Scholarship Program and another 34 seniors are being recognized as National Merit commended students this year. The names of the merit semifinalists and commended students in this 58th annual scholarship program were released Sept. 12 by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

National Merit semifinalists rank among the top 1 percent of high school seniors nationwide and are eligible to compete for the more than 8,300 merit scholarships -- totaling more than $34 million -- which will be awarded next spring.

The 15 National Merit semifinalists from District 196 are:

• Mitchell Dawson and Micah Lindstrom of Apple Valley High School;

• Justin Dietz, Madison Janvrin, Paulina Marell, Eleanor Schriner, Nicholas Studenski, Sylesh Volla, Kevin Wei and Aliya Zhdanov of Eagan High School;

• Audrey Gunn, Lauren Schaffran and Kelsey Spaniol of Eastview High School;

• Paul Wollersheim of Rosemount High School, and

• Rand Silvers of the School of Environmental Studies.

In addition, Anna Hutton of Eagan High was named a semifinalist in the National Achievement Scholarship Program, which recognizes Black American high school seniors. Achievement semifinalists are eligible to compete for the approximately 800 achievement scholarship awards -- totaling more than $2.5 million -- which will also be awarded next spring.

Students are selected as National Merit and Achievement semifinalists based on their scores on the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which they take as juniors. Approximately 1.5 million students in nearly 22,000 U.S. high schools took the test last year.

The 15 merit semifinalists and one achievement semifinalist from District 196 will now submit additional information in order to be considered for selection as a finalist. Approximately 90 percent of semifinalists will be named finalists in spring 2013 and will be eligible to receive scholarships that are awarded by businesses, colleges and universities, and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

The National Merit Scholarship Program also recognizes students whose scores on the PSAT/NMSQT rank them in the top 5 percent of students nationwide. In District 196, the following 34 seniors are 2012-13 National Merit commended students:

• Maxwell Courtright of Apple Valley High School;

• Aaron Anderson, Lauren Anderson, Timothy Anderson, Sophie Callahan, Nathaniel Cobbett, Christina Efteland, Miranda Jeffries, Joseph Keegan, Sanket Mishra, Abigail Peterson, Jennifer Westlund and Cassandra Worner of Eagan High School;

• Cuong Duong, Shelby Flanagan, Emily Jewell, Emily Kilen, Jonathan Lenz, Ryan McGuire, Anne Nygard, Asheshananda Rambachan, Joshua Ruth, Matthew Schmitt, Lauren Stepka, Zachary Tollefson, Lane Underdahl, Anna Underhill, Katerina Wong and Karin Yndestad of Eastview High School;

• Devin Awe, Rachel Olson and Shane Robertson of Rosemount High School, and

• John Poblocki and Josiah Russell of the School of Environmental Studies.