news-record.com

GREENSBORO — Thirty-one Guilford County Schools students have been named semifinalists in scholarship competitions held annually by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

These students will continue in the competition for one of about 8,200 National Merit Scholarships or 800 National Achievement Scholarships awarded next spring.

The 24 students who are semifinalists for the National Merit Scholarship were among 1.5 million high school juniors who took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test in 2008.

The National Merit semifinalists will be evaluated on their academic record, SAT scores and application for the scholarship, which includes an essay and a description of their participation and leadership in activities. About 90 percent of semifinalists are expected to become finalists, and about half of the finalists will become National Merit Scholars and win a one-time $2,500 scholarship.

The eight students who are semifinalists for the National Achievement Scholarships are among 1,600 African-American high school seniors who were the highest scoring test takers out of the more than 160,000 juniors who requested to be considered for the scholarships when taking the PSAT/NMSQT in 2008.

The National Achievement semifinalists will be evaluated on the basis of their abilities, accomplishments and potential for success in rigorous college studies.Most will qualify to become finalists, and about half will receive one of the 700 one-time National Achievement $2500 scholarships or one of the about 100 scholarships awarded by corporate sponsors.

The National Merit Semifinalists are:

The Early College at Guilford: Joy Damon, Patrick Farrell, Thomas Huff, Lane Jones, Meredith Jones, April Lee, Catherine Pan, Heather Seaman, Francis Wong Grimsley: Olivia Campbell, Taylor Gerkin, Jonathan Storch, Amy Taggart

High Point Central: Katherine Rodgers

The Middle College at GTCC-Jamestown: Richard Gritter

Northwest: Joseph Graves, Robert King, Valerie Puhala

Page: Katherine Dalldorf, Lindsey Hook

Ragsdale: Minshu Deng

Southeast: Bethany Boring, Chance Cockrell

Southwest: Joel Shuford

The National Achievement Semifinalists are:

Dudley: Briana Alford

The Early College at Guilford: Chloe Griffin, Ismail Kassim

Northern: Brandon Mayfield

Northwest: Joseph Graves

Smith: Britney McCollum

Southwest: Vincent Brown

Western: Eboni Arrington