Students named Merit semifinalists

Seven seniors from St. George’s School were recognized by the National Merit Scholarship program on the 2005 Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test, the school announced last week.

Two students, Elisabeth DeLeeuw and Sam Wagstaff, were named National Merit semi-finalists. DeLeeuw and Wagstaff will go on to compete for some 8,200 Merit Scholarship awards next spring, worth about $33 million.

According to the school, this is the ninth consecutive year that at least one St. George’s student has earned semifinalist status.

Five other seniors were named Commended Students by the program. Although they will not go on to compete for the final Merit scholarships, the students placed among the top five percent of the more than 1.4 million students that took the PSAT nationwide. They include Daniel Copeland, Hal Halvorson, Allison Lawrence, Erin Steenblik and Divya Vishwanath.

More Merit awards

Shadle Park High School senior Austin Lueck also was named a Commended Student by the National Merit Scholarship Program.

About 34,000 students nationwide are named Commended Students for their exceptional academic efforts.