Students qualify for scholarships

Four Manatee County high school students have been named semifinalists in the 2013 National Merit Scholarship Program.

The qualifying students are: Brian Gentry, St. Stephen’s Episcopal School; Taylor Myers, Braden River High School; Samy Ramadane, IMG Pendleton School; and Mackenzie Yaryura, Southeast High School.

The four seniors qualified for the program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) during their junior year of high school and are among 16,000 students who achieved semifinalist status this year — less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors.

The students will compete for 8,300 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million that will be offered next spring.