Nine Durham Public Schools students have been named semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,200 National Merit® Scholarships, worth more than $35 million, that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition.

About 90 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and approximately half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title.

Semi-finalists are:

Jordan High School:

Vera M. Cecelski; Benjamin K. Clark; Samuel D. Jamieson-Drake; Shawn A. Morgenlander; Austin D. Neeley.

Northern High School:

Daniel Jack Frush

Riverside High School:

Dylan J. Britt.

Durham School of the Arts

Kenny Phelps-McKeown; Tristan M. Szeremi

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation is a not-for-profit organization established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Program. Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 500 business organizations and higher education institutions that share NMSC’s goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.