Ten Baltimore County Public Schools students from five high schools, including one student from Eastern Technical High School, have been named semifinalists in the 64th annual National Merit Scholarship Program coordinated by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

The honored students are:

Catonsville High School
Daniel J. Li

Dulaney High School
Anna C. Boland
Alexandra M. Kallaur
Meredith M. Kossoff
Alan L. Zhang

Eastern Technical High School
Ian M. Brady

Hereford High School
Timothy W. Mahoney

Towson High School
Madison L. Annis
Indraneel M. Massie
Shenzhi Shi

“Congratulations to these outstanding BCPS students for their academic achievement and to the teachers, families, and administrators who provided them with exceptional instruction and support,” said BCPS Interim Superintendent Verletta White. “Every recognition such as this affirms the quality of teaching and learning taking place in our schools every day and inspires all members of the BCPS family to set and reach higher goals.”

About 1.6 million juniors from more than 22,000 high schools applied for the 2019 National Merit Scholarship Program by participating in the 2017 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NSMQT®). The highest scoring entrants in each state create the national pool of 16,000 semifinalists, which represents less than 1 percent of high school seniors in the nation. Most semifinalists advance to the finalist level (based on their academic records, recommendations and SAT scores) and compete for 7,500 National Merit Scholarships.

Through its longstanding partnership with the College Board, which administers the PSAT/NSMQT, BCPS provides funding so that all students in Grade 9 can take the PSAT 8/9, all students in Grades 10 and 11 can take the PSAT/NSMQT, and all Grade 11 students can take the SAT – all at no charge to the students or their families. The PSAT test provides practice for the SAT and provides BCPS educators with important assessments of student strengths and challenges.