These 20 Coast students are semifinalists in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program
More than 1.5 million high school students took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMQT) in 2019 and today the 16,000 national semi finalists were named.
Twenty high school students in South Mississippi were among the highest scorers in the state on the PSAT test to become a semifinalist in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program.
Ninety percent of the semifinalists are expected to complete the process and qualify for 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth $31 million.
The local students from 10 Coast high schools are:
Biloxi High School
William Dixon
Mikayla Herndon
D’Iberville High School
Michael Steil
Gautier High School
Fernando Arellano
Gulfport High School
Brian Alston
Sherry Dymond
Weston Signs
Harrison Central High School
Alyssa Stoner
Jeremy Wright
Chase Yano
Long Beach High School
Katie Baker
Ocean Springs High School
Isabella Furr
Kaylee Goodwin
Kaekoa Siangco
Pass Christian High School
Jimmy Hoang
Emma Palmer
Yash Patel
St. Stanislaus, Bay St. Louis
Houston Holman
Brennan Toepfer
Stone County High School, Wiggins
Leanna Breland
The non-profit company that administers the National Merit Scholarship Program said the PSAT honors students and encourages the pursuit of academic excellence, and does not measure the quality of a school system.
