Date:  November 4, 2002
Contact: Community Relations
(703) 791-8720

 Twelve Prince William County students, five who attend county schools and seven 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, two students have been designated as Hispanic Scholars in the National Hispanic Recognition Program.  Fifty-nine Prince William students, forty-two from county schools, and seventeen 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 6.

 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 
Woodbridge Senior High School:  Nicholas Purtell and Holleyanne McDaniel; Thomas Jefferson High School: Michael Hull, Neha Kumar, Maggie Smith and Cody Zimmerman.

National Achievement Semifinalists
Forest Park High School: Ashley Harris; Thomas Jefferson High School: Victoria Gandy, Tarik Jones and Makeda Kefale.

Hispanic Scholars
Gar-Field High School: Stephanie Villalobos; Woodbridge Senior High School:  Nicholas Villahermosa.

National Merit Commended Students
Forest Park High School:  Ellen Harry, Tyrus Hilliard, Susanna Hoffer, Kristen Mitchell, David Munn, and Meredith Picard; Gar-Field High School: Katherine Christensen, Daniel Devirgillo, Michael Edeke, Kyle Estep, Brendan Graham, Grace Hoang, Jamal Jacob, Milford John-Williams and Kristen McCane; C. D. Hylton High School: Amanda Cullen, Stephen Holt, Samuel Madsen and Bethany Wolstenholme; Osbourn Park High School: James Dagenhart, Patrick George, Patricia Graham, Chad Horton and Justin Lemkul; Potomac High School: Joel Bernado; Stonewall Jackson High School: Thomas Florio, Charissa Perry and Samita Singh; Woodbridge Senior High School: Julia Bales, Alex Johnson, Robert Lalley, Mai Nguyen, Christopher Richbourg, Michelle Samson, Jenna Scharf, Benjamin Streufert, Nicholas Villahermosa and Adam Williams; Thomas Jefferson High School: Mohammed Aijaz, Victor Andrei, Robert Barr, Samuel Costanzo, Elizabeth Drotos, Kathryn Firich, Victoria Gandy, Tarik Jones, Marlo Mantooth, Nicholas Robinson, Erica Rodgers, Tilghman Schraden, Arun Shrestha, Richard Smith, David Sterling, Pierce Umberger and Jennifer Williams .

National Achievement Commended Students
C. D. Hylton High School:  Stacey Garrett; Stonewall Jackson High School: Venee Galloway, Brooke Obie and Adrea Robinson.

The National Merit Semifinalists are among approximately 16,000 semifinalists announced by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC).  More than 1.3 million students in some 20,000 U.S. high schools entered the 2003 Merit Program as juniors by taking the 2001 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.