Ames High Announces 20 National Merit Semifinalists

Twenty Ames High School students have been named National Merit Semi-finalists because of their high scores on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).

Semi-finalists are the highest scoring entrants in each state and represent less than one percent of the state's seniors. The seniors are:

Chaitanya Aluru, Kevin Babcock, Maia Clipsham, Alexander Constant, Michael Dixon, Samuel Ennis, Robert Graveline, Vince Greenwald, Jackson Griffith, Darren Johnson, Samir Khoda, Hangil Lee, Jazelli Mueterthies, Lauren Naylor, Erol Unal, Ezgi Ustundag, Michael Vaclav, Victor Wang, Felix Yang and Vera Zhao.

These students have an opportunity to compete for 8,000 Merit Scholarship awards worth over $32 million.

Four of the national merit students were named as commended students in the 2012 National Merit program.

Joshua Bratsch-Prince, Matthew Burke, Camilla Dreasher and Katrina Henderson will not continue in the merit scholarship competition, but they can become candidates for Special Scholarships sponsored by corporations and businesses.