Twelve Bartholomew and Jennings County students have been named National Merit Scholarship Program semifinalists.
Honored locally, by high school, are:
- Columbus East High School: Derrick M. Klinker
- Columbus North High School: Maria A. Fischer, Jennifer M. Gutman, Shreya G. Hurli, Neev N. Kadakia, Richard J. Liu, Sai Preetha Pamidighantam, Ujwala Pamidimukkala, Elijah A. Peters, Rebecca A. Stanton and Adam Y. Zhuang.
- Jennings County High School: Tyler A. Vogel
They are among about 16,000 semifinalists in the program who are in the running to compete for 7,500 National Merit scholarships worth about $33 million that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a scholarship, semifinalists must complete several requirements. About 90 percent of semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing and about half of the finalists will win a National Merit scholarship.
Three types of scholarships will be offered: $2,500 National Merit scholarships on a state representational basis, corporate-sponsored merit scholarships provided by about 230 businesses and about 4,000 college-sponsored awards.
