51 in County Named Merit Semifinalists

Fifty-one students attending schools in the Ventura County area have been named semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program.

The semifinalists are eligible to win one of 6,700 Merit Scholarships, worth $26 million, to be awarded next spring, contest organizers said.

More than a million juniors nationwide entered the competition, but just 15,000 semifinalists were chosen, officials said. The students entered the contest by scoring high academically on a screening test.

About 90% of the semifinalists are expected to become finalists, officials said.

The local semifinalists are:

Camarillo

Adolfo Camarillo H.S.: Krystin D. Higgins, Ryan S. Mauck, Vikram R. Rao, Kimberly A. Stone.

Carpinteria

Cate School: Michael L. Aller, Jacob Carson, Aaron J. Denney, Karen M. Herbert, Tom H. McLean, Zamip P. Patel, Brooks A. Rosenquist, Elena A. Schneider.

Moorpark

Moorpark H.S.: Andrew F. Philip, Bea Tantayanubutr.

Newbury Park

Newbury Park H.S.: Mary K. Ford, Shannon L. Shelley.

Ojai

Nordhoff H.S.: Graham C. Hughes, Gary A. Middlemiss.

Thacher School: Tanya Kellam, Lesley Lancaster.

Oxnard

Channel Islands H.S.: Roxanne E. Jay.

Oxnard H.S.: Daniel G. Hendrix, Nancy G. Lin.

Rio Mesa H.S.: Jeffrey A. Smith.

Simi Valley

Royal H.S.: Katherine M. Desilets, Margaret A. Gabriel, Bonnie K. Luke.

Simi Valley H.S.: Scott R. Lawrence, Kristin Sampson.

Thousand Oaks

La Reina H.S.: Roxanne T. Bashardoust, Anita M. Engh, Jennifer M. Lafemina, Sonushya M. Mathai, Linda M. Nevin.

Thousand Oaks H.S.: Samantha E. Baker, Justin L. Bastow, Jenny K. Bottomly, Karen M. DeFazio, Jeffrey S. Fischer, Jennifer A. Gertwagen, Trudy Jones, Darren Noy, Sam S. Parmelee, Kevin D. Peterson, Rachel A. Stroud, Zane R. Williams.

Ventura

Buena H.S.: Gwendolyn D. Bart, Janet M. Hinton.

Westlake Village

Westlake H.S.: Edward Hsieh, Joanna L. Mazur, Christina A. Reinoehl, Peter G. Stobbe, Gary J. Witt.