The Central Kitsap School District recently announced that six students in the class of 2012 have qualified as National Merit Semifinalists.

As National Merit Semifinalists, Alyssa Hutchinson of Olympic High School along with Jake Small, Katherine Wilson, Geronimo Mirano, Michael Thorsen and Jacob Samson, all of Central Kisap High School, are eligible to continue competing for National Merit Scholarships.

High School seniors are recognized as semifinalists from their scores as sophomores on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

About 8,300 National Merit Scholarships will be awarded in the spring.

Eleven seniors in the district have also been recognized as “Commended” based on PSAT/NMSQT scores. Brynna Mosely, Boyd Wolking and Madelyn Dunning are commended students from Klahowya Secondary School. Commended students from Central Kitsap High School include Micaela Tolliver, Margaret Humm, Erin Williams, Rachel Kipps, Julia Swanson, Amanda Munsch, Charles McDonald and Bernice Klise.

Commended students receive recognition from the National Merit Scholarship Program but are not eligible to continue in competing for National Merit Scholarships.

About 1.5 million students enter the competition and about 50,000 of those students are recognized as commended or semifinalists.