6 Council Rock South Seniors Could Be National Merit Scholars

HOLLAND, PA — Six Council Rock High School South seniors are among the one percent of high school seniors nationwide named as semifinalists for the esteemed National Merit Scholarship in 2022.

Claire Cao, Ryan C. Carroll, Shivani J. Kumar, Claudia W. Lee, Michael E. Sperling, and Lea Wang are semifinalists in their class. Along with 16,000 semifinalists across the country, these students received the designation due to their high scores on the 2020 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

From Holland's Villa Joseph Marie High School, Jillian G. Evans was also named a semifinalist.

These seniors will now have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $30 million that will be offered next spring. Officials said about 95 percent of semifinalists attain finalist standing, and around half of finalists win a scholarship to secure the Merit Scholar title.

In the Wednesday announcement, officials explained the distinction between National Merit Scholarship accolades for spring of 2022: every finalist will compete for one of 2,500 scholarships that will be awarded on a state-representational basis; about 1,000 corporate-sponsored awards will be provided by 220 corporations and business organizations based on specified criteria; and around 180 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 4,000 scholarship awards for finalists who will attend their institution.

Winners will be announced in several releases in 2022 between April and July.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation is a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance toward its goals of "honoring the nation's scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence."

Stay informed about what’s going on in Northampton, or in your local area. Sign up for Patch emails and don't miss a minute of local and state news.

Got tips, story ideas, or questions in Lower Bucks County? Email kate.fishman@patch.com.