13 VHHS Seniors Named National Merit Semifinalists

VESTAVIA HILLS, AL — The National Merit Scholarship Corporation released its annual list of 16,000 semifinalists Tursday and 13 of those students are from Vestavia Hills High School.

Semifinalists at Vestavia Hills High School :

• Alexander Stephen Barr
• Katy Chen
• Ricky Lin Dong
• Sarah Katherine Gray
• Jason Dewei Han
• Cecilia Ling-Huan Kong
• Esther Yelim Lee
• Leighton Russell Reese
• Raleigh Grace Robinson
• Hanna Sha
• Dylan Weilong Shi
• Alex Michael Stern
• Grant Michale Uldrich

The students were selected from a pool of more than 1.5 million applicants who took the 2019 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). Semifinalists represent less than 1 percent of all U.S. high school seniors and are the highest-scoring entrants in their respective states, according to a press release from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

“We are so proud of these students for achieving one of the highest academic honors a senior can earn. This is a testament not only to these students, but to their teachers and families who helped bring out the best in each one of them. This recognition represents the culmination of years of hard work, and we look forward to watching these National Merit Semifinalists achieve even greater success in the next chapter of their lives,” said Tonya Rozell, Vestavia Hills High School principal.

The Semifinalists will now compete for the title of National Merit Finalist and some 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $30 million combined. Finalists will be announced this spring.