Three Local Students Named National Merit Scholar Semifinalists

Three seniors at local schools, Joseph Maher and Kevin Riehm at and Brianna Cunniff at , have been named Semifinalists in the 2012 National Merit Scholarship Program.

The seniors are two of approximately 16,000 students from across the country named as semifinalists, according to the National Merit Scholarship Program. This represents about 1 percent of seniors.

Those who advance in the competition become eligible for 8,300 National Merit Scholarships, worth more than $34 million, that will be offered next spring.

Students qualify for the program by taking the Preliminary SAT their junior year. To become a finalist, the student must maintain an excellent high school record, earn a recommendations from the school principal, and earn SAT scores in-line with their PSAT performance.