Twenty VHHS students earn National Merit Semifinalist honors

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation recently named its 2015 semifinalists, including 20 students at Vestavia Hills High School — the most at any school in Alabama, according to the organization.

Vestavia Hills students among the approximately 16,000 semifinalists include: Thomas Archibald, Ankit Bansal, Graziella Camata, Lynn Han, Erin Haston, Kai He, Luke Hogewood, Jason Hsu, Kathryn Jason, Charles Li, Jin Lu, Collin McMahon, Tailin Pan, Mark Philpot, Caroline Sandoval, Katherine Stahl, Samuel Tindall, Deborah Van Camp, Philip Wang and Amy Weng.

Finalists will be chosen in early 2015 after a rigorous application process that includes information about each student’s academic performance, test scores, and endorsements from high school officials. Some 7,600 scholarships worth a total of $33 million will be awarded in the spring, the organization said.

-Submitted by Whit McGhee