A total of 136 Arkansas high school seniors are among some 16,000 students nationally to be named semifinalists in the 63rd annual National Merit Scholarship competition.
The students are now eligible to continue in the competition for about 7,500 scholarships, worth more than $32 million, that will be awarded next spring. About 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to become finalists in the competition and about half of the finalists will win National Merit Scholarships.
The National Merit Scholarship Corp. was established in 1955 to conduct the competition. The corporation is a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance.
The Arkansas semifinalists and their high schools follow, listed by city alphabetically.
Amity
Ouachita Hills Academy: Jonathan R. Homan.
Benton
Benton High: Jared R. Hastings.
Bentonville
Bentonville High: Michelle N. Barnes, Trevor M. Bingham, Nicholas S. Brophy, Meghana Chithirala, Ryan B. Cranna, Brice S. Douglas, Allison H. Ellis, William P. Jackson, Emily Snyder, Sanket Srivastava, Tanvi Sunkireddy, Prudhvi Tavva and ZhongYu A. Wang.
Haas Hall Academy: Shiloh B. Beeler.
Home school: Faith Oldham, Kristy F. Sundberg.
Blytheville
KIPP Blytheville Collegiate High: Anika Mittal.
Cabot
Cabot High: Lauren I. Dieringer, David H. Nichols, Shawn C. Pearson, Stephanie G. Taylor, James S. Thompson and Taryn N. Toles.
Centerton
Bentonville West High: Elizabeth D. Jennings, George Shultz, Michael Sutera and Vanessa Tam.
Life Way Christian School: Christina Varghese.
Conway
Conway Christian School: Jackson H. Quick.
Conway High: Chloe S. Baker, Hunter B. Davis, Matthew S. Depner, Gopi G. Lukhi, Madelyn M. Moss, Catherine R. Peppers, Tanner D. Ruth, Noah E. Smith and Epifanio W. Torres-Smith.
Home school: Benjamin Choate.
Eureka Springs
Eureka Springs High: Carolyn Loudermilk.
Fayetteville
Fayetteville High: Noah H. Ballinger, Cesca A. Craig, Eric T. Gu, William H. Hadley, Emily L. Jackson, Seongbae Kong, Anthony T. Maranto, Payton Mattingly, William K. Mayer, Naomi Michael and Solomon Munyambu.
Haas Hall Academy: Caleb B. Bodishbaugh, John R. Branca, Nathan Friede, Emma K. Henry, Richard I. Hopwood, Rhett C. Owen, Aubin H. Payne, Swetha S. Sirigineedi and Owen M. Young.
Home school: Megan C. Pruitt.
Fort Smith
Southside High: Dominik O. Garretson, Mydia D. Phan, Alex M. Siebenmorgen and Beck A. Williams.
Greenwood
Greenwood High: Blake Bartlett and Ellen M. Gray.
Gurdon
Gurdon High: Rebekah Leamons.
Harrisburg
Harrisburg High: Trevor W. Paulsen.
Hot Springs
Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts: Benjamin E. Allen, Justin A. Austin, Sabrina Jones, Joanne J. Lee, Kyle R. Sadler, Devin Sha and Kashti T. Shah.
Hot Springs High: Jon Christian A. Boekhout.
Lakeside High: Luke R. Long.
Jonesboro
The Academies at Jonesboro High: Paris A. Rich, Carolyn E. Seglem and Quinn Thomas.
Ridgefield Christian School: Nathaniel Day.
Little Rock
Baptist Preparatory School: Laurel Y. McLaughlin.
Catholic High For Boys: Allen W. Bogoslavsky, Michael J. Broadwater and Spencer L.Walsh.
Central High: Robert C. Bierbaum, Anil Chakka, Rafael L. Estrella, Logan G. Jennings, Jua Jung, Naveed N. Khimani, Paige F. Raborn, James P. Swaim, Chuang L. Tang and Nimesh N. Wijewardane.
Episcopal Collegiate School: Steven E. Angtuaco, Andrew Mathews and Samuel M. Rhee.
eStem High Charter School: Noah K. Haynes.
Home school: Stanton J. Pruitt.
Mount St. Mary Academy: Mary K. Strickland.
Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High: Jack A. Burge and Alexander I. Walter.
Pulaski Academy: Robert L. Block, Hayden C. Cobb, Daniel W. Crabb, Spencer T. Davis and Brooks M. Walton.
Marion
Marion High: Claire E. Bunn.
Mena
Acorn High: Zane M. Barr.
Mountain Home
Mountain Home High-Career Academies: Kara Smeltzer.
North Little Rock
LISA Academy North: Daniel L. Chen.
Paragould
Greene County Technical High: Logan B. Smith.
Pearcy
Lake Hamilton High: Michala L.Smith.
Rogers
Rogers High: Serena Puang, Jaden G. Uecker.
Rogers Heritage High: David Vega.
Searcy
Harding Academy: Mason V. LaFerney.
Searcy High: Lauren M. Bowles, James M. Kidd, Anna-Catherine King, Margaret A. Lim and Gracen T. Watson.
Sherwood
Home school: William C. Jones, Grace A. Turner.
Springdale
Har-Ber High: Caroline G. Lonneman, Pablo Manon, Maria Pratt and Christina Trexler.
Springdale High: Michael A. Pitts.
Valley Springs
Valley Springs High: Nicolaus D. Vail.
White Hall
White Hall High: Caleb T. Anderson and Ryan H. Smith.
About 1.6 million high school juniors initially entered the 2018 competition by taking the 2016 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
The semifinalists represent less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors. They are the highest-scoring entrants in each state.
The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state's percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.
Metro on 09/19/2017