Five Manatee District seniors have been named Semifinalists in the prestigious 65th Annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
These academically talented high school students have the opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $31 million that will be offered next Spring.
The 2020 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists from School District of Manatee County’s traditional public schools include:
Jacob Whiddon of Braden River High School
Madigan Wilford of Braden River High School
Claire Davidson of Lakewood Ranch High School
Olivia Hansen of Manatee High School
Hailey Maurer of Southeast High School
To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition.
More than 1.5 million juniors, in more than 21,000 high schools, entered the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2018 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants.
The Semifinalists, representing less than one-percent of U.S. high school seniors, include the highest-scoring entrants in each state.
Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in the Spring of 2020: 2,500 National Merit $2,500 Scholarships; 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards; and 4,100 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards.
Winners will be announced beginning in April 2020 through July 2020. These scholarship recipients will join approx. 345,000 other students who have earned the Merit Scholar title.
For more information, visit www.nationalmerit.org.