Twenty-seven members of the Shaker Heights High School Class of 2016 have been named Semifinalists and Commended Students in the National Merit Scholarship Program.
This year's National Merit Semifinalists from Shaker are Max Cassell, Allison Kao, Sara Mesiano, and Anna Seballos. They will have the opportunity to continue in the competition for National Merit Scholarship awards that will be offered next spring, and will be candidates for other scholarships as well.
The National Merit Commended Students are Gabrielle Bal, Hannah Barrett, Vishwanath Betapudi, Haley Buchan, Nathaniel Calabrese, Abigail Connell, Margaret Cullina, Joseph Espy, Emily Forbes, Ruth Geye, Elana Herbst, Amani Hill, Nabhonil Kar, Owen LaFramboise, Daniel Luo, Braden Meyerhoefer, Ian Morrison, Clara Mueller, Joshua Podl, Olivia Rayburn, Anav Sood, Jacob Voyzey and Helen Yusko.
Nationwide, 16,000 National Merit Semifinalists have been designated from approximately 1.5 million program entrants in more than 22,000 high schools. Representing less than 1 percent of each state's high school seniors, Semifinalists are in the state's highest-scoring students on the 2014 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).
These scholastically talented seniors are considered top candidates for admission to the most selective colleges.