NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP CORPORATION

1560 Sherman Avenue, Suite 200, Evanston, Illinois 60201-4897 (847) 866-5100

SEMIFINALISTS IN THE 2016

NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
September 9, 2015 Announcement
Contact: Eileen Artemakis or Matthew Budreau
Public Information

Phone:
(847) 866-5100
E-mail: mediainfo@nmerit.net
Website: www.nationalmerit.org

Advance: For release on Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Note to editors: Semifinalists in your state are listed alphabetically by city and
high school following this press release.
This material is prepared solely for news media to announce the names of
Semifinalists; its use for any other purpose is prohibited.

Caution: Using numbers of Semifinalists to compare high schools, educational systems, or

states will result in erroneous conclusions. The National Merit Scholarship Program honors
individual students who show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous
college studies. The program does not measure the quality or effectiveness of education within a
school, system, or state. For more information about the competition, please visit NMSCs website
at www.nationalmerit.org.

Semifinalists in the 2016 National Merit Scholarship Program

(Evanston, Illinois) Today officials of National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC)
announced the names of approximately 16,000 Semifinalists in the 61st annual National Merit
Scholarship Program. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to
continue in the competition for some 7,400 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32
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.
About 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.
NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was

established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 440 business
organizations and higher education institutions that share NMSCs goals of honoring the nations
scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.

-more-

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Semifinalists in the 2016 National Merit Scholarship Program

Steps in the 2016 Competition

About 1.5 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2016 National Merit
Scholarship Program by taking the 2014 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying
Test (PSAT/NMSQT ), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool
of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highestscoring entrants in each state. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportional to the states
percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.
To become a Finalist, the Semifinalist and his or her high school must submit a detailed
scholarship application, in which they provide information about the Semifinalists academic record,
participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment,
and honors and awards received. A Semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn
SAT scores that confirm the students earlier performance on the qualifying test.

From the approximately 16,000 Semifinalists, about 15,000 are expected to advance
to the Finalist level, and in February they will be notified of this designation. All National Merit
Scholarship winners will be selected from this group of Finalists. Merit Scholar designees are
selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college
studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference.
National Merit Scholarships
Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2016.
Every Finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit $2500 Scholarships that will be
awarded on a state-representational basis. About 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship
awards will be provided by approximately 250 corporations and business organizations for
Finalists who meet their specified criteria, such as children of the grantors employees or residents
of communities where sponsor plants or offices are located. In addition, about 190 colleges and
universities are expected to finance some 3,900 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards
for Finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.
National Merit Scholarship winners of 2016 will be announced in four nationwide news
releases beginning in April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join more
than 315,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.
#

National Merit, Merit Scholarship, Merit Scholar, and the corporate Lamp of Learning logo
are federally registered service marks of
National Merit Scholarship Corporation. PSAT/NMSQT is a registered trademark of National Merit Scholarship Corporation and the College Board.
SAT is a registered trademark of the College Board.

Semifinalists: 2016 National

Merit Scholarship Program
OKLAHOMA
ADA
HOMESCHOOL
600 Daniel, Andrew J.

ALTUS
ALTUS H. S.
999 Mealer, Logan W.

BARTLESVILLE
BARTLESVILLE H. S.
628 Mason, Sean A.
201 Zhou, Emily

BIXBY
BIXBY H. S.
451 Dewiel, Amanda K.

BLANCHARD
BLANCHARD H. S.
185 Thomason, Tara D.

BROKEN ARROW
BROKEN ARROW H. S.
628 Atherton, Rebecca J.
999 Barker, Kyle W.
450 Chadwick, Jacob W.
250 Oven, Christopher C.
628 Stabler, Michaela D.
IMMANUEL LUTHERAN CHRISTIAN
630 Earl, Rachel M.

BROKEN BOW
BROKEN BOW H. S.
250 Holeman, Laura M.

CLAREMORE
VERDIGRIS SCHOOL
999 Black, Cody J.

COALGATE
COALGATE H. S.
628 Penney, Robert

DRUMMOND
DRUMMOND H. S.
999 Rehmel, Jessica

DUNCAN
DUNCAN H. S.
450 Banks, Tate A.

DURANT
DURANT H. S.
162 Breon, Eli J.

EDMOND
DEER CREEK H. S.
162 Pan, Yiwei
EDMOND MEMORIAL H. S.
999 Ashford, Kathryn D.
450 Bowman, Joel D.
201 Carreon, Alessia
904 Coen, Noah M.
628 Li, James D.
999 Marks, Sullivan W.
214 Pai, Raghavendra

821
302

500
629
185
454
454
741
553
628
999
303
200
461

Jones, Noah E.
Koiner, Jacob C.

ELGIN
ELGIN H. S.
606 Hampton, Haley J.

OKLAHOMA CITY
CASADY SCHOOL
946 Albert, Carl
454 Raikar, Connor G.
970 Rendon, Fiona G.

ENID
HOMESCHOOL
451 Davis, Margaret E.

CLASSEN SCHOOL FOR

ADVANCED STUDIES
628 McKinnis, Evan H.

FORT GIBSON
FORT GIBSON H. S.
628 Wells, Becca L.

HARDING CHARTER
PREPARATORY H. S.
303 Dow, Tristan
450 Kabrick, Isaac J.

GLENPOOL
GLENPOOL H. S.
467 Maier, Nicholas J.

HARRAH

HERITAGE HALL
712 Heidari, Venus
628 Miles, Paige E.

HARRAH H. S.
451 Eden, Erich M.

JENKS

BISHOP MC GUINNESS H. S.
450 Anderson, Maren A.
450 Baker, Noah R.
450 Duginski, Grace A.
999 Figueroa, Sofia T.

JENKS H. S.
451 Bick, Riley Z.
712 Bourke, Thomas C.
209 Chonka, Thatcher B.
455 Cleveland, Christopher
740 Davies, Julia A.
454 Famuliner, Cyle K.
303 Harris, Andrew D.
467 Howard, Jeffry C.
451 Ledford, Hannah M.
162 Monet, Heaven M.
834 Moore, Robert W.
843 Ragosta, Kaitlin R.
253 Schupack, Dina J.
450 Stephani, Megan
472 Sullivent, Thomas J.
204 Vincent, Allison T.
250 Wilkinson, Natalie
162 Wyant, Austin A.
450 Zhang, Ye
628 Zhu, Sylvia Y.

MOUNT ST. MARY CATHOLIC H. S.

949 Parizek, Rachel M.
OKLAHOMA SCHOOL OF SCIENCE
AND MATHEMATICS
303 Avery, Katherine E.
999 Cai, Albert R.
843 Cannon, Jack V.
999 Chen, Allen W.
470 Dial, Emily L.
742 Hwang, Philip K.
459 Khan, Faraz A.
628 Lozano De Ao's, Pedro M.
200 Luo, Rynel
162 Nguyen, Gabrielle C.
302 Springer, Farren J.
600 Wu, Tiannan
451 Zhang, Charles Y.

JONES
HOMESCHOOL
303 Alexander, Kermit L.
999 Buster, Malcolm T.

WESTMOORE H. S.
300 Schmidt, Mason A.
710 Truong, Khang D.

LAWTON
EISENHOWER H. S.
450 Naberhaus, Grant V.

OOLOGAH
OOLOGAH H. S.
301 Ingram, Brandon M.

LAWTON CHRISTIAN SCHOOL

836 Johnson, Jazz A.

OWASSO

MIDWEST CITY

HOMESCHOOL
252 Haan, Emily D.

MIDWEST CITY H. S.
450 Foreman, Aaron A.
455 Luong, Erica A.

OWASSO H. S.
999 Alvord, Abigail M.
302 Peterson, Eric R.
467 Woolery, Bradley

MOORE
MOORE H. S.
950 Blevens, Lucas R.
185 McLaughlin, Christopher R.

PIEDMONT
MUSTANG

PIEDMONT H. S.
999 Stroh, Katherine M.

MUSTANG H. S.
970 Raghavan, Noby

PONCA CITY

NORMAN
EDMOND NORTH H. S.
467 Ashmun, Jared K.
185 Beaver, John P.
204 Funderburk, Rachel W.
999 Velasco, Lilian
121 Zeng, Willie
EDMOND SANTA FE H. S.
254 Morrison, Victoria A.
906 Sattar, Zoya
450 Vallejo, Michael A.
HOMESCHOOL
700 Brooks, Erin K.
942 Dutcher, Mary Margaret

Jiang, Kevin R.
Long, Lynette F.
Magsig, Audrey M.
Muraleetharan, Veena
Raman, Ashutosh P.
Raman, Vinayak S.
Robertson, Sawyer J.
Rogers, Avery
Sandhu, Zainab I.
Summers, Randall J.
Velaga, Rutvick
Wirth, John M.

HOMESCHOOL
214 Smart, Benjamin J.
000 Smart, Sean M.

NORMAN H. S.
837 Albert, Brandon C.
999 Bogan, Emily M.
843 Konieczny, Alexander H.
160 Poynter, Adrienne E.
870 Rivas, Cristina E.
160 Zhang, Alice Y.
472 Zhong, Patrick
710 Zhou, Xin Yue

POTEAU
POTEAU H. S.
450 Hardaway, Kanaan C.

PRAGUE
PRAGUE H. S.
999 Bond, Montrey R.

NORMAN NORTH H. S.
628 Balaguru, Logesvar
790 Chan, Amber M.
303 Felkner, Virginia K.
459 Fung, Jen-On A.

SAND SPRINGS
HOMESCHOOL
742 Place, Caleb M.

SEILING
SEILING H. S.
742 Sander, Darci L.

SKIATOOK
SKIATOOK H. S.
185 James, Kada R.

SPIRO
SPIRO H. S.
920 Horton, Breckin N.

STILLWATER
STILLWATER H. S.
450 Mathis, Samuel A.
628 Pope, Audrey M.
628 Wang, Kylin G.

TULSA
CASCIA HALL PREPARATORY
SCHOOL
170 Rule, Katherine G.
628 Zanders, Jacqueline B.
THOMAS A. EDISON H. S.
950 Laurencig, Benjamin J.
HOLLAND HALL SCHOOL
628 Kalapura, Cheryl R.
000 Kelly, Peter
185 Liu, Briana
HOMESCHOOL
000 Garrison, Jeremy Trevor
BISHOP KELLEY H. S.
628 Ames, Natalie E.
999 Bernard, Nicholas M.
450 Durland, Ross M.
450 Hanisch, Read E.
602 Keele, Sydney
450 Mai, Tam N.
475 McMahon, Griffon G.
162 Sharp, Rachel R.
628 Shelton, Hannah N.
602 Widdows, Natalie C.
METRO CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
450 Fossett, William E.
PEACE ACADEMY
600 Akel, Mohamad B.
162 Saleh, Ayah A.
REGENT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
700 Perkins, Isabelle
RIVERFIELD COUNTRY
DAY SCHOOL
947 Brown, Riley
UNION H. S.
218 Boyington, Austin R.
450 Chang, Sae Yeun
454 Gordon, Marie C.
904 Haynes, Maureen E.
162 Javed, Arkam M.
457 Jones, Harold M.
450 King, Miles
000 Pangestu, Stephen
472 Sarica, Erhan O.
000 Shadley, Alexander T.
200 Smith, Daniel R.
VICTORY CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
467 Braun, Joshua R.
678 Sohl, Morgan L.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON H. S.
302 Aly, Mohamed K.
904 Cash, Micah J.
883 Levit, Nathan H.
600 Li, Hsinhui
250 Robson, Emma
946 Sherman, Harriet V.
628 Sous, Dana
457 Taylor, Samuel M.

WAGONER
WAGONER H. S.
870 Drake, Brett M.

WOODWARD
WOODWARD H. S.
627 Wallace, Madison L.

Semifinalists: 2016 National Merit Scholarship Program

Oklahoma (continued)
YUKON
SOUTHWEST COVENANT SCHOOL
450 Webb, John C.