10 Manatee County students named semifinalists in National Merit Scholarship Competition

MANATEE -- Ten Manatee County students made the semifinalist round of the 2016 National Merit Scholarship program, the organization announced Tuesday.

There's a total of 16,000 semifinalists in the 61st annual National MeritScholarship program, according to officials. The high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,400 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million.

NMSC, a not-for-profit organization, was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 440 business organizations and higher education institutions that share NMSC's goals of honoring the nation's scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.

Area semifinalists include:

Hannah Figueras, Braden River High School

Christopher Korda, Manatee High School

Chris Lehman, Manatee High School

Corbin Wood, Manatee High School

Joseph Class, St. Stephen's Episcopal School

Zackary Gromko, St. Stephen's Episcopal School

Sabrina Priestly, St. Stephen's Epsicopal School

Hannah Sage, St. Stephen's Episcopal School

Oi Lam Michelle Yan, St. Stephen's Episcopal School

Sierra Van Such, Out-of-Door Academy

Finalists will be named in the spring.

Meghin Delaney, Herald education writer, can be reached at 941-745-7081. Follow her on Twitter@MeghinDelaney.

This story was originally published September 8, 2015 at 1:25 PM with the headline "10 Manatee County students named semifinalists in National Merit Scholarship Competition ."