Parkville High School Center for Mathematics, Science, and Computer Science
student Saadiq K. Shaik and Perry Hall High student Jacob A. Ingalls were among 25 Baltimore County Public Schools students from nine high schools that have been named semifinalists in the 61st annual National Merit Scholarship Program coordinated by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

“Our students are young people of tremendous intellectual curiosity and personal drive,” said BCPS Superintendent S. Dallas Dance. “The success of these 25 seniors speaks to the perseverance they have exhibited not just in high school but throughout their academic careers and to the outstanding instruction and support they have received from family, teachers, and administrators. We wish our semifinalists well as they compete for scholarships and finalist ranking, and we look forward to following their post-graduate careers.”

About 1.5 million juniors from 22,000 high schools applied for the 2016 National Merit Scholarship Program by participating in the 2014 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 7,400 National Merit Scholarships, worth more than $32 million.

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