Three Oconee Students Named Semifinalists for 2012 National Merit Scholarships

Three Oconee students have been named Semifinalists in the 2012 National Merit Scholarship Program, the school system announced this week.

Berta Franzluebbers of , and Eliot Beckham and Hannah Kim of have been selected.

There are approximately 16,000 Semifinalists in the 57th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These academically talented seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,300 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $34 million that will be offered next spring, Kevin Guthas, a guidance counselor at OCHS, noted in a news release.

About 1.5 million juniors in some 22,000 high schools entered the 2012 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2010 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test , which served as an initial screening of program entrants, according to the release. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, which represents less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state, the release explained.

Finalists will be notified in February, and in March through mid-June, winners will be notified, the organization's website stated.