Sewickley area student news for the week of Oct. 4, 2022

Six area students were named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists.

Quaker Valley High School seniors Eric Weicht and Keira Currier and Sewickley Academy students Grace Armutat, Leon Jiao, Jayne Miner and Maria Silvaggio were among about 16,000 students in the nation picked to be in the running for the award, which is for students who have shown exceptional academic ability and potential for success in college studies.

They have the opportunity to continue to compete in the competition in which nearly $28 million will be awarded to 7,250 recipients in the spring.

A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test, according to National Merit Scholarship Corp. documents. Finalists are expected to be notified sometime in February with winners announced sometime in April through July.

Carrie Trunick received a master of science in nursing degree in nursing at Wilkes University’s summer commencement ceremony on Sept. 11.

Talia Mastroianni graduated from James Madison University in August with a bachelor’s degree in marketing.