National Merit Scholarships Semifinalists Selected

Thirteen students from Newport Beach were named semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program this week.

The students from Sage Hill School and Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor high schools, are among the nearly 16,000 semifinalists nationally in the 58th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

Over the next few months the students will compete for about 8,300 scholarships worth more than a total $32 million. About 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to make it to the finals and just more than half of the finalists will win a scholarship.

The students were judged by their scores on standardized test scores, their grades, an essay and extracurricular activities.

The 13 semifinalists from Newport Beach are:

• Sophia Y. Chen, Darya Fadavi and Nicholas R. Furgatch of Corona del Mar High School
• Kelsey Christiensen and Jamison Searles of Newport Harbor High School
• Kimberly Brown, Yoonseo Cha, Darren A. Chen, Maxwell Davitt, Liana C. Korber, Alice Y. Liu, Brennon K. Mendez and Tiffany L. Silverstein of Sage Hill School in Newport Coast

- City News Service 

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