11 Apple Valley, Eastview Students Named Finalists in National Merit Scholarship Program

The 11 students at and high schools who all have been named finalists in the competitive scholarship program, according to a district press release.

Maren Loe is the finalist from Apple Valley High School. Finalists from Eastview High School are Reid Anderson, Mikyla Carpenter, Lamisa Chowdhury, Nicholas Havlicek, Jane Kagan, Zane Larwood, Nitin Prasad, Andrew Solfest, Mariel Supina and Samantha Zarate.

These students are among about 15,000 in the running for one of more than 8,300 corporate-sponsored, college-sponsored and National Merit-sponsored scholarships, worth more than $34 million total, the release says.

Recipients will be named beginning this spring, and continuing through summer.

From District 196, Scott Miller of Rosemount High School and Alexander Anderson, Nathaniel Bonshire, William Thomas and Carl Winge of Eagan High School also are finalists, the release says.

About 16,000 students each year achieve semifinalist status based on their preliminary SAT, or PSAT, scores. Finalists must have outstanding academic performance and SAT scores and recommendation from their high school principal, and must submit an application with an essay.

The NMSC nonprofit organization began in 1955 specifically to run the scholarship program.