Introducing your 2012 National Merit semifinalists

They are among the nation's brightest high school students.

The National Merit Scholarship program announced the names of 16,000 semifinalists in the 57th annual competition, including a strong contingent from Rochester and area school districts.
By reaching the semfinalists' stage, students have an opportunity to compete for some 8,300 merit scholarships worth more than $34 million. The scholarships will be offered in the spring.

Students from Rochester include: (Century High School) Marianna H. Bible, Kirk R. Busche, Paige E. Hazelton, Ryan H. Heath, Riya Madan and Frank J. Peng; (Home school) Thomas W. Nath; (Lourdes High School) Jacob E. Nordman, Michael J. Nowakowski, Victoria T. Smith and Emma C. Tschann; (John Marshall High School) Eduardo S. Cabral and Amy E. McMeeking; (Mayo High School) Hannah M. Findlay, Christina R. Hagan, Michael H. Ishita
ni, Keith Kallmes, Nitya D. Mankad, Gulnar Z. Mirza and Emily C. Voldal; (Schaeffer Academy) Abigail W. Driscoll.

Students from area districts include Joel Torgeson from Pine Island and Amelia R. Brooks from Lake City.

Students enter the annual competition by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. About 1.5 million juniors took the test. The semifinalist winners represent less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors.