this just in ... (as a Capo guy I have to proudly note the two semi-finalists from San Juan Hills...but we should each of the district's regular high schools has a semi-finalist.)
12 SENIORS NAMED NATIONAL MERIT SEMIFINALISTS
District Students Compete for College Scholarships
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO—A dozen Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD) seniors have been named semifinalists in the 57th Annual National Merit Scholarship Program, officials from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced today.
The 12 students are part of approximately 16,000 semifinalists, which represents less than one percent of the nation’s high school seniors. Last year, 20 CUSD students reached the semifinals; 10 were eventually named National Merit Scholars.
“We are proud of these students and their commitment to academic excellence,” Superintendent Joe Farley said. “Being named among the top one percent of students in the nation is an incredible accomplishment. We also need to thank these students’ families and teachers for supporting and encouraging these bright young minds.”
The District’s semifinalists are: Jacob Joseph, Charles H. Leo, Alexandra L. Mardock, and Derrick Xin from Aliso Niguel High School; Shana Hu and Marisa L. Shimano from Dana Hills High School; Valen B. Crain from Capistrano Valley High School; Regine J. Goh and Vivek Manjunath from Tesoro High School; Elena N. Gacek from San Clemente High School; and Kiana R. Hui and Dominick E. Wong from San Juan Hills High School.
These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for 8,300 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $34 million that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition. About 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and more than half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the National Merit Scholar title.
About 1.5 million juniors in some 22,000 high schools entered the 2012 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants.
Finalists will be announced in February.
Congratulations to all the students as well as the parents & teachers who helped prepare them!
Posted by: Heather Paige | September 14, 2011 at 10:32 PM
Thanks to Bryson, Addonizio, Palazzo, and the rest of the Reform Board for cleaning up CUSD and personally providing these students a world class education!
Posted by: RegisterReader | September 15, 2011 at 07:26 PM
Cute, RegisterReader. As a teacher of one of the above-named students, I can assure you that the ladies you cited had absolutely nothing to do with my student's extraordinary success. But thanks for giving us all a chuckle.
Posted by: Teacher w/ Feet Firmly on the Ground | September 17, 2011 at 08:27 AM