Eastside, Wade Hampton Students Named Merit Scholarship Semifinalists

Three students from Eastside High School and two from Wade Hampton High School have been named semifinalists for the  National Merit Scholarship Award. The seniors have the opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,300 scholarships in the program worth more than $32 million. 

Christopher Bresette, Thomas Guryan and Olivia Svacha from Eastside and Brandon Byrd and Clarice Randall from Wade Hampton were among the 27 Greenville County seniors who are the semifinalists. 

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 more than half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship. 

About 1.5 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2013 National MeritScholarship Program by taking the 2011 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants.