2020 National Merit Scholarship semifinalists announced

Eighteen Richland Two seniors have been named semifinalists in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship program.

The students and their schools are: McLean T. Brown, Nina Ni and Swetha Sekhar (Blythewood High School); Ericka M. Van Alstine (Ridge View High School); and Johnathan C. Brown, Ahad A. Chattha, Jacob L. Ho, Jareer A. Imran, Andrew B. Miller, Connor P. Myrick, Abhijith B. Nair, Pallavi Rao, Elizabeth M. Ream, Elizabeth A. Shytle, Sachet Urs, Amal Verma, Alyssa Christine Williams and Luke F. Zhang (Spring Valley High School).

These academically talented high school students move on to compete for some 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth about $31 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. Over 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and about half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning a Merit Scholar title.

NMSC, a non-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 420 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.