6 Cornelius High School Seniors Are National Merit Semifinalists

CORNELIUS, NC — Six high school students from Cornelius are among 16,000 semifinalists for the National Merit Scholarship, which were announced on Wednesday.

William Amos Hough High School students Benjamin D. Atherton, Annika U. Deshpande, Morgan C. Gregg, Zade C. Micallef, Gabriel A. Thompson and Leah R. Wood were among those who were named as semifinalists by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation on Wednesday.

The students are in the running for more than 7,500 National Merit Scholarships that are worth more than $30 million and that will be offered to students next spring. To be considered for an award, semifinalists must meet several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition.

To become a finalist, the student and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the student’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received, the corporation announced.

Students must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a school official, write an essay, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.

Every finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit $2500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state-representational basis. About 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be provided by approximately 220 corporations and business organizations for students who meet their criteria, such as children of the grantor’s employees or residents of communities where sponsor plants or offices are located.

In addition, about 180 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 4,000 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards.