Lucie Krisman  - Schools

Shawnee Mission and USD 232 students among local National Merit semifinalists

John Trewolla dies

Five students from Shawnee Mission East in Prairie Village made the National Merit semifinalist list this year. File photo.

Dozens of high school students across Johnson County have already begun the school year by earning accolades.

This week, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced which students from school districts across Johnson County could go on to earn prestigious National Merit scholarships for 2024 with its list of semifinalists.

Finalists will be announced in the spring

  • Each student earned a semifinalist spot based on their performance on the Preliminary SAT (PSAT) test.
  • Roughly 7,140 scholarships will be offered to this spring’s finalists, amounting to roughly $28 million.
  • Finalists will be chosen based on a number of academic metrics, such as test scores, academic records and level of difficulty of subjects studied.
  • The number of scholarship winners named in each state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the nation’s graduating high school seniors.

Blue Valley had the most semifinalists in the state

  • A total of 56 high school seniors from Blue Valley made the semifinalists list. That’s a higher percentage than any other Kansas school district, according to district officials.
  • The Shawnee Mission School District and USD 232 in De Soto had 10 and three semifinalists this year, respectively.
  • The Olathe School District had 21 semifinalists, all seniors as well.
  • Roughly 16,000 students across the country were named semifinalists, and 15,000 will make it to the finalist level, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

The semifinalists from each local school district in Johnson County are as follows:

Hi! I'm Lucie Krisman, and I cover the city of Leawood and the Blue Valley School District for the Post.

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Here's a little about me and my background:

I'm a native of Tulsa, Okla., but have been living in Kansas since I moved here to attend KU, where I earned my degree in journalism. Prior to joining the Post, I did work for The Pitch, the Eudora Times, the North Dakota Newspaper Association and KTUL in Tulsa.