Wednesday, September 14, 2011

NEWS RELEASE -- Students from Six High Schools on National Merit Semifinalist List

NEWS RELEASE from the San Diego Unified School District, September 14, 2011

STUDENTS FROM SIX HIGH SCHOOLS ON NATIONAL MERIT SEMIFINALIST LIST

SAN DIEGO -- Students from Henry, La Jolla, Mira Mesa, Pt. Loma, Scripps
Ranch, University City are on the list of National Merit Scholarship
semifinalists, released today.

Qualifying as semifinalists means the students are in the running for some
of the $34 million that will be divided among recipients this spring by
the National Merit Scholarship Program. The program estimates that about
90 percent of the semifinalists will advance to be finalists, with more
than half of those receiving scholarships or other assistance.

The semifinalists are: Sophia Quiroz from Patrick Henry High; Erica Eisen,
Ryan Farley, Grace Henahan, Meredith Lehmann, Ryan Mann, Yuhao Wang,
Ashley Weller, Qian Zhang and Ardis Zhong from La Jolla; Anglea Pham, Mira
Mesa; Anthony Cook, Pt. Loma; Sarah delos Santos, Jacob Fineman, Brian
Hie, Kevin Hu, Ryan Seo, Hyungjin Shin, Vivek Vishwanath and Amy Zheng,
Scripps Ranch; and Kyle Ingraham and Hailan Pang, University City.

"I join everyone in the San Diego Unified School District, and in the San
Diego community, in recognizing the hard work and achievement demonstrated
by these students," said Bill Kowba, San Diego Unified Superintendent. "We
wish them the best of luck in completing the process and receiving their
scholarship."

Winners of the scholarships will be announced this spring.

According to National Merit, semifinalists must have an outstanding
academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by the
high school principal, and earn SAT scores that confirm the student¹s
earlier performance on the qualifying test in order to advance to the
final level. The semifinalist and a high school official must submit a
detailed scholarship application, which includes the student¹s essay and
information about the semifinalist¹s participation and leadership in
school and community activities.


# # #

NOTE TO REPORTERS AND EDITORS: To speak with any of the semifinalists,
contact the school directly. Parents will be notified and, if they
approve, will contact you.

Jack Brandais
Communications Department
San Diego Unified School District
(619) 725-5570 (Desk)
(619) 607-0477 (Cell)

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