Five T.C. Williams Students Named National Merit Semifinalists

Five T.C. Williams High School seniors are among the 16,000 students nationwide picked as semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program. 

Paloma Alcala, Kathryn Aplin, Andrew Dewhurst, Phillip Espinoza and Joseph Powers are now vying to become finalists in the celebrated competition that recognizes extraordinary academic achievement and offers scholarships. 

"We congratulate these students for their exceptional achievement and commend them for setting a new standard for Alexandria City Public Schools," said Superintendent Morton Sherman. "We wish them all the best as they continue their hard work and attempt to become finalists in this prestigious competition."

The students were among 1.5 million high school juniors who entered the competition last year. 

Finalists will be announced in February; more than half of them will win National Merit Scholarships which total more than $34 million. Scholarship winners will be announced over a four-month period starting in April. 

When applying for the program, students listed their prospective majors. Alcala is undecided; Aplin and Dewhurst plan to major in engineering; Espinoza plans to major in physics; and Powers plans to major in multi-interdisciplinary studies.

Since 1955, when the program was created, more than 283,000 students have won the title of National Merit Scholar.