43 Blazers recognized as National Merit Semifinalists

The National Merit Scholarship Program recognized forty-three Blazers as National Merit Semifinalists on Sept. 12.

Students nationwide are recognized as National Merit Semifinalists based on their performance on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) in the fall of their junior year. A total of 16,000 students, an equal number from each state, are chosen as semifinalists as a result of their PSAT score.

To advance to finalist standing, semifinalists must demonstrate exemplary performance on the SAT that confirms their PSAT score. The names of the 2008 National Merit Finalists will be announced in Feb. Finalists are eligible for Merit Scholarship awards, which are bestowed based on each finalist's academic record and test scores as well as personal recommendations, extracurricular activities and a personal essay.

The National Merit Semifinalists from the Montgomery Blair High School class of 2008 are:

Vijay Baharani
Jack Berry
Katherine Bertaut
William Bucher
Sam Bullard-Sisken
William Burton
Noori Chai
Jason Choi
Caleb Fan
Malcolm Foley
Hareesh Ganesan
Priyanka Gokhale
Walker Hatchett
Andrew Kannan
Sarah Kinter
Andrew Kung
Benjamin Lee
David Li
Kun Li
Zhengzhe Liu
Priyanka Nargundkar
Timothy Peng
Jocelin Potash
Molly Reed
Seth Reeker
Jasleen Salwan
Nilan Schnure
Noah Sennett
Christopher Silberholz
Rachita Sood
Thomas Stokes
Nitin Sukumar
Susan Thomas
Timothy Visclosky
Ryan Waldman
Jenny Wang
Thomas Warner
Louis Wasserman
Yi Yuan
Junqian Zhang
Cong Zhao
Julie Zhu
Christina Zou