Thirty-two members of the Shaker Heights High School Class of 2015 have been named Semifinalists and Commended Students in the National Merit and Achievement Scholarship Programs.
This year's National Merit Semifinalists from Shaker are Sameer Apte, Taylor Butze, James Caffrey, Zicheng (Brian) Gao, Isabel Haber, Colin Kempton, Cherie Lo, Mark McKinzie, Benjamin Robertson, Gabrielle Rose, Ari Smith, Zane Weltman, Abigail White, Julianna White, and Grant Zempolich.
The National Merit Commended Students are Kieran Aulak, David Carter, Maxwell Cowan, Alexander Cullina, Rachel Elson, William Goodall, Browning Haynes, Kevin Lin, Emily Mathur, Louis Seguin, Erin Setser, Narayan Sundararajan, Julia Thome, and Noah Wheeler.
Shaker's National Achievement Semifinalist is Liam Tipton-Fletcher.
The National Achievement Commended Students are Patricia Frierson and Lyndsi Powell.
These scholastically talented seniors are considered top candidates for admission to the most selective colleges.
Both programs are administered by The College Board. The National Merit program, dating to 1955, is open to all students who take the PSAT; Semifinalists are in the top 1% in the nation. The National Achievement program was established in 1964 to recognize academically promising African-American students; this year approximately 1,600 Semifinalists were selected from around the U.S.