7 Loyola Academy Students Named National Merit Semifinalists

WILMETTE, IL — The National Merit Scholarship Corporation named seven Loyola Academy students Wednesday as semifinalists in its scholarship competition. The students qualified based on the results of preliminary SAT tests taken last year, with their scores placing them in the top 1 percent of the 1.6 million high school juniors who took the test nationwide. National Merit said it plans to award 7,500 scholarships worth more than $31 million during the course of this year's competition.

The next step in the process is narrowing down the pool of semifinalists to finalists. About 15,000 semifinalists are expected to advance to the next level after submitting an application with information about academic and community activities, employment, awards and "demonstrated leadership abilities," according to National Merit. Winners will be selected out of those finalists based on their accomplishments, skills and potential for success in college. This year's National Merit Scholars will be announced between April and July 2019.

Here are the National Merit Scholarship semifinalists among the Loyola Academy class of 2019:

• Christopher R. Hara
• Brendan J. Hering
• Ryan M. Hering
• Jack P. Riley
• Nathaniel M. Seaman
• Maeve C. Silk
• Kaitlin M. Zelinski

Last year, eight Loyola Academy students were picked as National Merit semifinalists and all eight of them advanced to the finalist stage. Three were awarded $2,500 scholarships to the institutions of their choice and another was awarded a college-sponsored scholarship to the University of Chicago. Winners from the class of 2018 included residents of Chicago, Evanston, Lake Forest and Wilmette.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation is an Evanston-based nonprofit founded in 1955. A majority of the roughly $33 million in scholarships it distributed last year was underwritten by sponsors, including about 178 colleges and 232 corporations.

National Merit also announced four semifinalists at several other north suburban private schools:

• Robert D. Claud, Christian Heritage Academy
• Paige Forester, North Shore Country Day School
• Brendan M. Wagner, Northridge Preparatory School
• Emily H. Well, North Shore Country Day School

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