PERRYSBURG — Four students from Perrysburg High School have been listed as National Merit Scholarship semifinalists. They are Andrew Chung, Nikhil Methi, Ella Sibbersen and James Xiao.

There were over 16,000 semifinalists in the 68th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,250 National Merit scholarships worth nearly $28 million that will be offered in the spring.

About 95% of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and approximately half of the finalists will win a National Merit scholarship.

High school juniors entered the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2021 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than 1% 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.

To become a finalist, the semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received.

A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.

From over 16,000 semifinalists, more than 15,000 are expected to advance to the finalist level. They will be notified in February.