4 National Merit Scholarship semifinalists from Manatee

Four local seniors have been named semifinalists in the prestigious 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program.

The senior semifinalists are Luke Rowland of Braden River High School, Brett Gerber of Manatee High School, Logan Adams of Palmetto High School and Calen MacDonald of Southeast High School, the School District of Manatee announced Tuesday.

To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition, according to a district news release.

About 1.6 million juniors, in more than 22,000 high schools, entered the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2016 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.

The four Manatee County students can be one of the winners of 2,500 National Merit $2,500 Scholarships; 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards and 4,000 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards, according to the release.

Winners will be announced beginning in April.

Information: nationalmerit.org.

This story was originally published September 19, 2017 at 2:17 PM with the headline "4 National Merit Scholarship semifinalists from Manatee."