LVJUSD Students Named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists

Press release from LVJUSD:

Feb. 15, 2021

Four students from the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District (LVJUSD) have qualified as National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists. Out of the 1.5 million high school juniors who took the 2020 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) only the top 1%, or 15,000 students qualify as Semifinalists.

Granada High School’s Emma Laurence, Feoden Soriano, and Vishal Venkatesh and Livermore High School’s Alicia Zhang are all Semifinalists for this year. These exemplary students will proceed to compete with students across the country to advance to Finalist standing. “The hard work, focus, and commitment to academic excellence required to be recognized as a National Merit Semifinalist is significant. We are so proud of our students and look forward to watching their futures in education and beyond,” said Superintendent Kelly Bowers.

Finalists are selected based on various criteria submitted by the students and their schools including academic record, PSAT/NMSQT and SAT scores, recommendations, extracurricular accomplishments, and an essay. Winners are then chosen from the Finalist group based on their abilities, skills, and accomplishments. LVJUSD’s National Merit Semifinalists along with 22 National Merit Commended Students were recognized by their principals at a Board of Education meeting in January.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) is a not-for-profit organization established in 1955 in order to conduct this scholarship program. This is its 67th annual contest. Scholarships are underwritten by the NMSC, business organizations, and higher education institutions seeking to support the academic pursuits of promising high school scholars.

This press release was produced by LVJUSD. The views expressed here are the author's own.