11 Students Named National Merit Semifinalists In District 207

EVANSTON, IL — The National Merit Scholarship Corporation Wednesday named 11 Maine Township High School District 207 high school students as semifinalists in its annual scholarship competition. The students, 10 from Maine South and one from Maine West, qualified based on the results of preliminary SAT tests taken last year. Their scores put them in the top 1 percent of the 1.6 million high school juniors who took the test nationwide. National Merit said it plans to award 7,500 scholarships worth more than $31 million during the course of this year's competition.

The next step in the process is narrowing down the pool of semifinalists to finalists. About 15,000 semifinalists are expected to advance to the next level after submitting an application with information about academic and community activities, employment, awards and "demonstrated leadership abilities," according to National Merit. Winners will be selected out of those finalists based on their accomplishments, skills and potential for success in college. This year's National Merit Scholars will be announced between April and July 2019.

From Maine South High School:

• Connor P. Alcock
• Thomas Brady
• William Burgis
• Lucy C. Campbell
• Aidan Honan
• Hannah Kreger
• Jonathon Lassa
• Alexandra Mack
• Owen Mech
• Yvonne Walker

From Maine West High School:

• Veronica Kleinschmidt

Last year, three students from Maine South and one from Maine East were picked as National Merit semifinalists.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation is an Evanston-based nonprofit founded in 1955. A majority of the roughly $33 million in scholarships it distributed last year was underwritten by sponsors, including about 178 colleges and 232 corporations.

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