Alcoa, Maryville students among National Merit Scholarship semifinalists

Alcoa, Maryville students among National Merit Scholarship semifinalists

Published in the Maryville Daily Times on September 15, 2022

Five seniors from Maryville High School and one from Alcoa High School are among more than 16,000 semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program.

Alcoa’s Katherine O. Doyle is on the list announced Wednesday, Sept. 14, as well as Maryville’s Abbey E. Frost, Simon M. Luhn, Adithya V. Madduri and Riya A. Patel.

The semifinalists qualified by being among the highest scoring juniors in their states last year on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualify Test. Less than 1% of students qualify as semifinalists, which allows them to complete for about 7,250 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28 million, to be announced next spring.

Finalists must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.

As part of the application the semifinalists must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about their academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received.