Five Eastview high school seniors have been named semifinalists in the 2009-10 National Merit Scholarship Program and another 12 seniors are being recognized as National Merit commended students this year. The names of the semifinalists in this 55th annual scholarship program were released by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation Sept. 16.

National Merit semifinalists rank among the top 1 percent of high school seniors nationwide and are eligible to compete for the more than 8,200 merit scholarships -- totaling more than $36 million -- which will be awarded next spring.

The 4 National Merit semifinalists from Eastview High School are Ben Kariya, Shirley Liao, Jack Overby and Jason Vanderlinden.

Students are selected as National Merit semifinalists based on their scores on the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which they take as juniors. More than 1.5 million students in nearly 22,000 U.S. high schools took the test last year.

The 10 semifinalists from District 196 and their schools will now submit additional information in order for the students to be considered for National Merit finalist selection. Approximately 90 percent of semifinalists will be named finalists in spring 2010 and will be eligible to receive scholarships that are awarded by businesses, colleges and universities, and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

The National Merit Scholarship Program also recognizes students whose scores on the PSAT/NMSQT rank them in the top 5 percent of students nationwide. The following 12 seniors at Eastview High School are 2009-10 National Merit commended students: Laura Brenberg, Brittany Brown, Jefferson Carpenter, Kayla Hanson, Raghav Julakanti, Madeline Kofoed, Kevin Mar, Jonathan Miles, Divya Reddy, Elizabeth Roeske, Paul Thompson and Logan Worke.