10 Radnor High Seniors Named 2017 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists

Ten Radnor High School seniors have been named semifinalists in the 2017 National Merit Scholarship, putting them among roughly 16,000 high school students vying for education funding from about 7,500 scholarships that total about $33 million.

Radnor Township School District announced the semifinalists Wednesday. They are James J. Clarke, Emily J. Han, Jessica J. Lin, Jacqueline "Jax" Norman, Sang-Hee Park, Jessica T. Pevner, Joseph W. Riley, Iris Wang, Dennis B. Xiao and Kail J. Yuan.

RTSD said about 90 pecent of semifinalists will become finalists, and half of those finalists will earn a scholarship. About 1.6 million high school juniors from over 22,000 high schools entered the 2017 National Merit Scholarship program.

To be considered, students had to take the 2015 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test as an initial screening test. Students who move on to become semifinalists represent less than 1 percent of high school seniors nationwide and only do so by earning the highest scores on the test in their state. The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors, the district said.

For Radnor's ten seniors, moving on to the finals requires submitting a detailed scholarship application that high lights their academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. The students will be notified in February next year of their current standing among the throngs of other semifinalists. All scholarship winners will be selected from the pool of roughly 15,000 finalists.

Image provided by Radnor Township School District