Austin Prep teen a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist

Emma Tilley of Billerica, a senior at Austin Preparatory School in Reading, is a semifinalist for the prestigious National Merit Scholarship.

Showing outstanding academic potential, Tilley qualified as one of only 16,000 semifinalists. Less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors become semifinalists.

She qualified for the initial phase of the program in the spring by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. More than 1.5 million students across the country took the qualifying test.

Tilley will learn in February whether she has advanced to the finalist level and a chance to earn one of the 8,300 National Merit Scholarships in 2016.