Five Pine-Richland High School students have earned National Merit Scholarship semifinalist qualification scores by ranking in the top 16,000 scores of more than 1.3 million students.

Seniors Charlie Ozelski, Thomas DeVito, Heath Cwynar, Tim Peng and Sean Burk were announced as earning the prestigious recognition.

These students may go on to be recognized as National Merit finalists, which would provide them with an opportunity to qualify for National Merit Scholarships.

The National Merit Scholarship Corp. provides over 7,000 scholarship opportunities to National Merit finalists and nearly $28 million in scholarships to students to support higher education.

A semifinalist represents his or her state by holding the highest scores in that state. To advance to the finalist level, all semifinalists must hold high academic standards and various other requirements.

More than 15,000 semifinalists are selected to advance to the finalist level. Finalists are chosen based on their accomplishments, abilities and skills.

National Merit Scholarship selectors review the student’s academic record, school’s grading system and curriculum, school officials’ recommendations, two sets of test scores, student activities, and leadership and the student’s essay.

More than 8,000 finalists will be selected to receive National Merit Scholarships. Other scholarships available are the corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarships and college-sponsored Merit Scholarships.

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