Forty-nine students from the Class of 2011 at Mercer Island High School have earnd the titles of National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist, Commended Scholar and National Achievement Semifinalist. The students earned these recognitions on the basis of their PSAT and SAT scores, as well as consistently very high academic standing throughout their four years of high school.

Many Islanders residents who attend schools outside the public schools have also earned these distinctions. They include Other Mercer Island students who were also named as semifinalists include Ben Boyle and Michael Orehek, of Eastside Catholic High School; Benjamin Blumstein, a senior at Lakeside School; and Grace Williams, who attends The Bush School. Let us build a complete list by emailing names of winners to rmar@mi-reporter.com.

The MIHS National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists are:

* Steven Adler

* Elizabeth Chang

* Kevin Chung

* Tyler Cox

* Nicholas Goelz

* Kathleen Guinee

* Eleanor Hildebrandt

* Haley Lepp

* Jennifer Stewart

* Alyssa Suhm

* Andrew Wingerson

* Miriam Zawadzki

The National Achievement * Scholarship Semifinalist for MIHS is:

* Trina Fanfant

The MIHS National Merit Scholarship Commended Scholars are:

* Elizabeth Bachman

* Samuel Chase

* William Clausen

* Savannah Dixon

* Trina Fanfant

* Patrick Fong

* Derek Frank

* Matthew Grohnke

* Sarah Gunby

* Alyssa Hatsukami

* Martin Ho

* Woodrow Jacobson

* Noah Jensen

* Wick Kaminski

* Charlie Kern

* David Lee

* Taylor Lidsky

* Allison Matson

* Alexander Moore

* Zoe Pearl

* Benjamin Poor

* Nicholas Radow

* Alan Shoemake

* Kathryn Taylor

* Joanna Ting

* Elizabeth Vincent

The next step in the competition is the National Merit Scholarship awards offered next spring to over 8,400 students nationwide. About 90 percent of these semifinalists are expected to become finalists and half of these will win the award. The winners will be announced between April and July.