Oklahoma City — (Sept. 15, 2021) — The Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics (OSSM) announced today that nine seniors have been named semifinalists in the 2022 Competition for National Merit Scholarships. Additionally, one student from its regional center in Okmulgee, Okla., was named a semifinalist.

The OSSM students are: Jane Gou (Stillwater), Sehee Kim (Enid), Bernardo Liu (Oklahoma City), Logan Rhyne (Fort Gibson), Oviya Selvakumar (Edmond), Simren Shah (Edmond), Pundit Vorakitolan (Norman), Andrew Youn (Edmond), and David Zheng (Norman).   Skyler Price is from Okmulgee.

Selection as National Merit Semifinalists is based on performance on the PSAT test taken at the beginning of a student’s junior year, the first year of attendance at OSSM. 

“These seniors have accomplished a great deal in a challenging school environment due to the global pandemic,” said Frank Wang, Ph.D., president of OSSM. “We congratulate them and applaud their home high schools. Students take the PSAT shortly after arriving at OSSM, so the schools they come from prepared these students well for this challenging test.” 

Approximately 16,000 semifinalists were named by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation in the 67th annual National Merit Scholarship program. These high school seniors now have an opportunity to continue in the competition for 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $30 million that will be offered next spring. High School juniors entered the program by taking the 2020 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which serves as an initial screen of program entrants.  

Established in 1955, National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) is an independent, not-for- profit organization that operates without government assistance. Since its founding, NMSC has recognized 2.9 million academically talented high school students and provided over 377,000 scholarships worth $1.5 billion. The honors awarded by NMSC to exceptionally able students are viewed as definitive marks of excellence and contribute to developing future leaders.