3 Broadneck Students to Compete for National Merit Scholarships

Three students from have been selected as semifinalists in the 2011 National Merit Scholarship competition. They are:

Broadneck High School

• Liliana D. Craig
• Caroline F. Plott
• Curtis A. Winter

The students join 10 others from four other Anne Arundel county public high schools. In total, 16,000 semifinalists were named across the country. They will be competing for scholarships worth more than $34 million.

“This is tremendously exciting news and speaks volumes both for our students and the teachers and staff at our schools who work so hard with them,” schools Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell said in a media release. “I am very excited that these 13 students are getting such distinctive recognition and the opportunity for a college scholarship for their years of hard work.”

Each finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit Scholarships worth $2,500 each. In addition, 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be provided by about 240 corporations and business organizations for finalists who meet their specified criteria.

The students were selected from more than 1.5 million juniors in nearly 22,000 high schools across America. They are top scorers on the 2010 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).

Bob Mosier, spokesman for the Anne Arundel County Public Schools, said about 90 percent of the semifinalists will advance to finalist status based on criteria that includes academic record, a recommendation from the principal and SAT performance.

The competition is overseen by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. About 200 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 4,800 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for finalists who will attend the sponsor school.

The other local semifinalists are:

Annapolis High School

• Daniel Guth
• Joanna Guth
• Anthony Ko
• Moya K. Shpuntoff

Arundel High School

• Albert J. Protin

Severna Park High School

• Michaela R. Cunningham
• Christopher L. Euerle

South River High School

• Sanjit Dutta
• William S. Ewing
• Kristin M. Howe

Finalists will be named in May.