MORGANTOWN — Nineteen area high school seniors are now in elite academic company.
The students from schools in Monongalia and Preston counties were named semifinalists for the 2022 National Merit Scholarship program, the organization announced.
The nominees will now join roughly 16,000 of their counterparts across the country.
Morgantown High had 16 seniors named. One was named at University High and Trinity Christian School also charted another nominee.
Preston High School in Kingwood had a nominee, also.
MHS
- Shu-Ruei Chang
- Gareth Clark
- Nolan Cook
- Dominic Gabriel
- Owen Gerdes
- Alice Guo
- Grady King
- Elena Kurov
- Dake LaSala
- Amber Li
- Celina Liang
- Irina Stanescu
- Bryn Tronco
- Liza Wan
- Gloria Wang
- Alexander Whitney
Trinity Christian
- Taylor Bricker
UHS
- Luke Watson
Preston High
- Lowell Cerbone
The above are part of the 66 seniors across the Mountain State earning the honor.
Twenty-seven schools were represented, and the field also includes two home-schooled students.
For the second year running, Morgantown High has boasted the most nominees from any school in the state. As with last year, Charleston’s George Washington High followed second, with nine seniors named.
Nationally, the semifinalists make up less than 1% of all seniors in the U.S., the organization said.
After the finalists are named in February, they’ll vie for more than $30 million in scholarships.
The National Merit Scholarship program was born of the Cold War in 1955, over concerns the U.S. was lagging intellectually in the world.
Its goals, the organization said, were to encourage young students to develop their full academic and professional potential.
After passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the program expanded with its National Achievement Scholarship Program for high-achieving Black students.
Scholarships from the nonprofit organization are underwritten with its own funds and 400 supporting businesses nationwide.
More than 350,000 have earned the Merit Scholar title since 1955.
Past National Merit finalists, meanwhile, include Microsoft founder Bill Gates, blues guitarist Elvin Bishop and filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan.
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