Courtesy of Emilie Alonso, via Vestavia Hills City Schools
2017 National Merit Finalists from Vestavia Hills High School. Back row, L-R: Charles Trotman, Allan Feng, Manning Owen, Connor Johnston, Graham Thompson. Middle row, L-R: Edward Huang, Kenne Zhang, Pum Koo, Hannah Precise, Emma Henderson, Sherry Wu. Front row, L-R: Caroline Stair, Anastasia Sorochinsky, Lana Chen, Angela Zheng, Greta Chen, Samantha Warner.
Out of the 15,000 high school students nationwide to be named National Merit Finalists, 17 are coming from Vestavia Hills.
Last week, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced that all 17 of the students from Vestavia Hills High School who had qualified as semifinalists were moving on to become finalists.
The National Merit Finalists at VHHA are: Greta Chen, Lana Chen, Allan Feng, Emma Henderson, Edward Huang, Connor Johnston, Pum Koo, Manning Owen, Hannah Precise, Anastasia Sorochinsky, Caroline Stair, Graham Thompson, Charles Trotman, Samantha Warner, Sherry Wu, Keene Zhang and Angela Zheng.
After becoming semifinalists, the students had to earn SAT scores that confirmed their performance on the PSAT/NMSQT as well as submit a detailed application that looked at their academic performance, extra-curricular activities, employment, leadership abilities and honors. Students also had to submit essays and letters of recommendation from teachers.
Being a finalist opens up a number of opportunities for scholarships at 190 colleges and universities across the nation, among others.
“We are proud of these students for all they have achieved as Rebels and as outstanding young men and women of character," said VHHS principal Tyler Burgess. "We look forward to watching them achieve even more as our alumni in the years to come.”
