LANSDALE – The North Penn School District (NPSD) is proud to recognize the following 12 North Penn High School (NPHS) students who were named as semifinalists in the 65th Annual National Merit Scholarship Program:

Mahilan Bala

Abigail Broadhead

Benjamin Curlee

Evan Garbaccio

Anna Jia

Kavita Kute

Samuel Lee

Emily Liu

Swetha Sampath-Kumar

Divya Sood

Tony Xu

Selah Youn

The National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955. High school students enter the National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®)—which serves as an initial screen of approximately 1.5 million entrants each year—and by meeting published program entry and participation requirements.

Out of the 1.5 million students who took the qualifying test, approximately 16,000 are named semifinalists in the country. Selected semifinalist students represent less than one percent of high school seniors in the country.

These academically talented high school seniors will now have an opportunity to continue in the competition for more than 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $31 million. Students named as finalists will be selected in April, May, June and July based on their ability to show exceptional academic talent and potential for success in rigorous college studies.

Later this month, a list of “Commended Students” who placed among the top five percentile in the 2018 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test will be released to the public.

The NPHS National Merit Scholarship Program commended and semifinalist students and their families will be honored for their accomplishments at a breakfast at NPHS in October.

For more information about these students or the National Merit Scholarship Program, please contact NPHS Senior Class Assistant Principals Matthew Edwards at [email protected] or Amy Linn at [email protected].

For more information about the competition, please click here www.nationalmerit.org.