Kennedy Student Is Semi-Finalist for National Scholarship

Twenty-two seniors attending Montgomery County's public high schools are semifinalists in the 2013 National Achievement Scholarship competition, including one student—Sydney M. Harper—at John F. Kennedy High School, according to a Montgomery County Public Schools statement.

"The scholarship program, administered by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, recognizes academically promising [African-American] students across the nation and awards college scholarships to hundreds of these students each year," according to the statement.

Nine public high schools in Montgomery County are represented by this year's semi-finalists, according to the statement. "Last year, 28 MCPS students from seven schools were named as semifinalists and 13 received scholarships," the statement added.

Across the nation, "[more] than 160,000 students requested consideration for the National Achievement Scholarship Program and 1,600 were named as semifinalists. Semifinalists are chosen based on their performance on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) during their junior year. Approximately 80 percent of the semifinalists are expected to advance to the finalist level and more than half of the finalists will be awarded with scholarships next spring," the statement continued.