Interlake High School Students Among the Top in Washington's National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist List

had more students on the latest National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist list than any other public high school in Washington, according to the Bellevue School District.

With 24 students on this year’s list, Interlake finished second only to Lakeside School, a private school in Seattle.

Interlake's showing means that about one out of 14 students in Interlake's class of 2012 scored 220 or higher out of a perfect 240 on the October 2010 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

More students were named to this year’s semifinalist list than in previous years, according to the district. Forty-five students throughout the Bellevue public schools made the list.

had 14 semifinalists, had five and had two.

“I am very pleased to see so many Bellevue students on this prestigious list. With dedication and hard work, they have proven once again that our students have the skills to succeed and compete with their peers from across the nation,” said Bellevue Superintendent Amalia Cudeiro in a prepared statement. “The impressive list of semifinalists also reflects the commitment of our teachers and staff to preparing our students for college, career and life.”

One student from the private Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bellevue also was named as a semifinalist.

Semifinalists are eligible to compete for a $2,500 National Merit Scholarship.

Semifinalists needed to score a 220 on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT) taken by 11th graders in October 2010. The minimum score for commended level is 202. A perfect PSAT score is 240. Six Bellevue district students scored a perfect 240 on their PSATs, according to the district.

In addition to the semifinalists, 82 students across the five Bellevue public high schools that were in existence last year received Letters of Commendation in recognition of their academic promise, according to the Bellevue School District. These students will not compete for National Merit Scholarships, but may qualify for scholarships sponsored by private businesses. (Bellevue's .)

More than 1.5 million students across the nation take the PSAT each year. About 16,000 high scorers qualify as semifinalists. They will compete for 8,300 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $34 million.

To be considered for a National Merit Scholarship, semifinalists must meet several requirements. They must have an outstanding academic record throughout all four years of high school. They must also receive a recommendation from their principal and earn high SAT scores.

National Merit Scholarship winners of 2012 will be announced in the spring.

Bellevue High School

• Robert Ding
• Tsu-Fang Lu
• Curren Mehta
• Laura P. Vidale
• Robin M. Winstanley

Interlake High School

• Akshay Belur
• Sunjay B. Bhatia
• Evan R. Ding
• Carew Giberson-Chen
• Daniel J. Gorrie
• Mitchell M. Huang
• Matthew L. Klucher
• Anusha Kukreja
• Lucinda Li
• Katherine A. Lin
• Lawrence Liu
• Andrew S. Nelson
• Beini Pan
• Vivek K. Paramasivam
• Alexander Pizzirani
• Michael B. Qian
• Zachary M. Reshovsky
• Aaron Z. Roper
• Kunal Roy
• Samuel A. Shank
• Ajay Solanky
• Eric Sun
• Lydia K. Teegan
• Helen Yu

International School

• Noel G. de Sa e Silva
• Mitchiell C. Krawczyk

Newport High School

• Alin Barsan
• Marigold F. Bays-Muchmore
• Rosalynn Emberton
• Manning Feng
• Andrew Ho
• Jeremiah H. Li
• Anita K. Lo
• Allison L. Lu
• Pei Tao
• Sophia K. Wang
• Linsen M. Wu
• Venecia Y. Xu
• Min-Joo Yi
• Joshua J. Yip

Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart

• Emma M. Murphy

-- Information from the Bellevue School District and National Merit Scholarship Corporation