3 District 303 Students Are National Merit Semifinalists

Three students in St. Charles Community Unit School District 303 have been named semifinalists in the 2014 National Merit Scholarship Program, the district announced Monday.

In a release, the district said that St. Charles East High School students Hannah Larry and Alexander Park, and St. Charles North student Caroline Blassick have been named semifinalists. The three District 303 students are among 16,000 students nationwide who have been selected for this honor.

The National Merit Scholarship Program’s next phase is in February, when the finalists are notified, the release states.

According to the release, another 14 St. Charles Community Unit School District 303 students earned the National Merit Program’s Commended Status. They are:

• St. Charles East High School — Sydney Andersen, Matthew Hinds, Michael Jacobson, Emily Johnson, Mary MacCarthy, Joseph Monroe, Emily Russell, and Kevin Zhang.

Begun in 1955, the release describes the National Merit Scholarship Program as an academic competition that brings recognition and scholarships. High school students enter the program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which serves as an initial screening of about 1.5 million students annually. They also must meet program entry/participation requirements.