12 District 196 Seniors Named Finalists In National Merit Program

APPLE VALLEY, MN— Twelve seniors from Independent School District 196 have been named finalists for the National Merit Scholarship Program, the district announced.

The seniors had previously been selected as semi-finalists for the 2020-21 program last fall, the district said.

Being finalists, the students are eligible for one of 76,000 scholarships, totaling over $30 million to be awarded this spring by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, businesses, and colleges and universities nationwide, the district said.

These students were selected for the program based on their scores on the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which they took as juniors, the district said.

Students who score in the top five percent of students nationally are named commended students, and 44 students from the district earned commended status in this year's program.

Students in the top one percent nationally are named semi-finalists, and can submit additional information to be named a finalist, the district said.

The National Merit finalists from District 196 are:

• Amy Monsen of Apple Valley High School;
• Ryan Diaz, Ryan Madigan, Morgan Madsen, Colin Roberts and Samyak Tiwari of Eagan High School;
• Carter Henning, Thor Reimann and Anne Warren of Eastview High School, and
• Anika Jackson, Alexander Owens and Jake Zimmer of Rosemount High School.