The Fulton County School System proudly announces that 145 students are semifinalists in the 61st annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These scholastically-talented high school seniors now continue in the national competition for more than 7,400 Merit Scholarship awards, a value of approximately $32 million.

This is the first round of competition for students seeking the distinction of being named a National Merit Scholar and receiving the scholarship money associated with it. Finalists will be named in the winter and the scholarship winners will be announced in the spring.

The students were identified through exceptionally high scores on the PSAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which they took as juniors. As semifinalists, the students now must fulfill several requirements in order to advance to the finalist round. They must have a record of high academic performance, be endorsed and recommended by their school leadership, and earn SAT scores that confirm their earlier qualifying test performance. A detailed scholarship application, which includes the students self-descriptive essay and information about his or her participation and leadership in school and community activities, also must be submitted.