9 WHS seniors named in National Merit program

Westlake High School's 2018 National Merit Semifinalists.

Nine Westlake High School seniors were named 2018 National Merit Semifinalists.

Seniors Claire Brewer, Isabella DiGiulio, Ella Gray, Nate Gray, Hyun Park, Akhilesh Reddy, Mihir Shetty, Meghana Tandon and Talia Zheng are among the 16,000 students across the country who took the PSAT in their junior year and earned scores high enough to qualify as Semifinalists. These students will move on to compete for approximately 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $34 million.

WHS has the highest number of Semifinalists in the Southwestern Conference and is among the top school districts in Northeast Ohio, both public and private.

Less than 1 percent of high school seniors make it to the semifinal round. About 90 percent of semifinalists are expected to move on to become National Merit Finalists, which should be announced in February.