York High School Class of 2013 has produced six National Merit Semifinalists, as announced by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation last week. The NMSC revealed the names of approximately 16,000 Semifinalists in the 58th annual National Merit Scholarship Program on Wednesday, Sept. 12.

The following York seniors were named National Merit Semifinalists: Karen Altergott, Caroline Dierksheide, Evan Fabry, Emma Fisher, Ushasi Naha and Matthew Wilbur.

These academically talented students have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,300 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 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 1.5 million juniors in some 22,000 high schools entered the 2013 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2011 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, which represents less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

Information provided by Elmhurst Unit District 205.