National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists Named

Two hundred Orange County students have been selected National Merit Scholarship Program semifinalists, according to an announcement Wednesday.

Among those, 17 are from schools that are fed by Rancho Santa Margarita area students, and another student is home-schooled.

There are about 16,000 semifinalists nationally in the 58th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

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The National Merit Scholarship Corporation was established in 1955 to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. The scholarships honor the nation’s scholastic champions.

The students will compete for about 8,300 scholarships worth more than a total $32 million. About 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to make it to the finals and just more than half of the finalists will win a scholarship.

The students were judged by their scores on standardized test scores, their grades, an essay and extracurricular activities.

The local semifinalists from the Rancho Santa Margarita area are:

• Neil Argade, Joshua M. Don, Ryan A. Hall, Tae-Min Kim and Kevin C.
  Yang of Mission Viejo High School.
• Yash Attal, Urmila Janardan, Angela Ni and Janet J. Son of Trabuco
  Hills High School.
• Hannah E. Huynh, a homeschooled student from Rancho Santa Margarita.
• Jordan Francis, Chris T. Kateyiannis, Nicole A. Minkina and Alexander G. Mott of Santa Margarita Catholic High School.
• Jon C. Coleman, Alexandra Ivanov, Bryan A. Le, and Ryan H. Yoo of
  Tesoro High School.

—City News Service