Seven Lake Minnetonka-Area Students Win $2,500 National Merit Scholarships

Seven Lake Minnetonka-area students are among the winners of $2,500 National Merit Scholarships released Wednesday, the organization announced.

This year’s local winners are:

• Justin Horst, of Excelsior, Minnetonka High School
• AliceAnne Cassia Szeliga of Long Lake, Orono High School
• Laine A. Higgins of Wayzata, The Blake School-Northrop Campus, Minneapolis
• Ziwei Lynn Zhang of Maple Grove, Wayzata High School
• Roy Hao Zhao of Medina, Wayzata High School
• Nirupa C. Galagedera of Plymouth, Wayzata High School
• Jacob M. Neis, of Eden Prairie, Minnetonka High School

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation selected the students from among 15,000 finalists in the 2013 National Merit Program. The winners are judged to have the best combinations of “accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies.”

The number of winners in each state is proportional to the number of graduating seniors in the state.

A committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors selected the winners using:

• Their academic record, including difficulty level of subjects studied and grades earned; Scores from two standardized tests;
• Contributions and leadership in school and community activities;
• An essay the finalists wrote and
• A recommendation written by a high school official.

This year’s competition began when 1.5 million juniors across 22,000 high schools took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test in October 2011. That test served as an initial screen for program entrants.

Last fall, the organization announced 16,000 semifinalists, representing less than 1 percent of high school seniors, as semifinalists. From there, 15,000 students advanced to the finalist portion of the program.

By the end of the 2013 program, about 8,000 participants will be named as “Merit Scholars” and will receive a total of more than $35 million in college scholarships.