Date:  October 17, 2001
Contact: Irene Cromer
(703) 791-8720

 Twenty-one Prince William County students, ten who attend county schools and eleven who are enrolled at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, a regional school for the gifted in Fairfax County, have been named as semifinalists in the annual National Merit Scholarship and the National Achievement Scholarship programs.  These students now have an opportunity to continue in the competition for thousands of scholarships worth millions of dollars that will be offered next spring. 

In addition, three students have been designated as Hispanic Scholars in the National Hispanic Recognition Program.  Fifty-three Prince William students, thirty-eight from county schools, and fifteen who attend Thomas Jefferson, have been named commended students or received honorable mention in these programs. The Prince William County School Board will honor the National Merit Semifinalists, National Achievement Semifinalists and Hispanic Scholars at a reception on November 7.

 Students enter these programs when they are high school juniors by taking the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) which serves as an initial screen of program entrants.

 The students who have earned these national academic honors are listed below.

National Merit Semifinalists

Stonewall Jackson High School:  Owen M. Allen, Alexandra E. Ressler, and Jacob W. Shier; Woodbridge High School:  Kevin T. Bowman, Justin D. Dvorak, Elizabeth A. Guiden, Kara E. Smith; Thomas Jefferson High School:  Christopher P. Christensen, Kaia M. Dekker, Christopher D. Garay, Amelia N. Hollingsworth, Kathleen Locher, Molly C. Mahar, Thomas A. Mendel, Brian D. Myhre, Mika S. Nagasaki, Laura M. Nally, and Christopher A. Wenzel.

National Achievement Semifinalists

Hylton High School: Keenan Bowens and Jonathan Garr; Stonewall Jackson High School: 
Evan Bolthouse.
Hispanic Scholars
Stonewall Jackson High School: Adriana Harvey; Thomas Jefferson High School:  Christopher Garay and Alexandra Zerita.

National Merit Commended Students

Forest Park High School:  Candace Gentry; Gar-Field High School: Michael E. Barnette, Sarah L. Hawes, Leeds M. Nudd, Ian C. Peth, Nathaniel L. Ross, and Derik Stiller; C. D. Hylton High School: Michelle Arthur, Christopher Clever, Sean Connor, Scott Keith, Kyle Schumacher, Andrew Whittaker; Osbourn Park High School: Nicolas Cady, Phillip Cunningham, Scott Minner, Jacquelyn Taber, and Michael Trizna; Potomac High School: Chui (Joe) Sungkei; Woodbridge High School: John Bamford, Lauren Goldschmidt, Eric Mack, Holly Moir, Alexandria Moler, William Schneider, Erin Stackley, James K. Thompson, and Valerie Weyenberg; Thomas Jefferson High School: Ian Bone, Jonathan Lalley, Sarah Linke, Shauna Kreidler, Elizabeth Mason-Deese, Michelle Oh, Nicholas Piazza, Greg Polins, Glenn Ramsey, Jr., Fareed Riyaz, Adele Roland, Stephen Rossi, Sue-Pei Schneider, Aubrielle Smith, and Jaclyn Yamada.

National Achievement Commended Students

C. D. Hylton High School:  Jasper Cohens, Briten Lollie, and Ashley Reynolds; Woodbridge High School: Joseph Andorful, Jeremy Bowditch, Robin Bown, Jasmine Evans, Marcus Manderson, and Randy Williams.

Hispanic Scholar Honorable Mention

Woodbridge High School: Lia Marroquin.

The National Merit Semifinalists are among approximately 16,000 semifinalists announced by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC).  More than 1.2 million students in some 20,000 U.S. high schools entered the 2002 Merit Program as juniors by taking the 2000 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). 

Using this qualifying test as an initial screen of program entrants, the highest scorers in each state were designated semifinalists, in numbers representing less than one percent of the state high school graduating class.  The number of semifinalists named in each state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.  Students take the PSAT in the fall of their junior year and results are announced in September of the following year. 

 The National Achievement Scholarship Program was established in 1964 to honor academically promising Black American youth and to increase their opportunities for higher education. 
The National Hispanic Recognition Program identifies academically outstanding Hispanic students and furnishes their names to colleges and universities to encourage recruitment and financial support.  To be considered in the program, students must be of Hispanic descent, with at least one parent Hispanic.