Sixty seniors from six high schools throughout the Houston Independent School District have qualified as semifinalists in the prestigious National Merit Scholarship Program. HISD had 56 semifinalists last year.

The students are among 16,000 from across the country to earn the semifinalist designation, allowing them the opportunity to continue in the academic competition and vie for more than 8,000 college scholarships worth roughly $35 million.

They hail from Bellaire, Carnegie Vanguard, Lamar and Westside high schools, as well as DeBakey High School for Health Professions and the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.

“We’re so proud of the academic success these students have achieved,” HISD Superintendent Terry Grier said. “It’s an incredible honor for our students to be recognized by a program that is as rigorous and competitive as the National Merit Scholarship Program.”

Roughly 1.5 million high school juniors from across the country took the 2012 Preliminary SAT, which serves as the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Less than 1 percent — about 16,000 students — were named semifinalists.

Ninety percent of semifinalists — about 15,000 students — are expected to advance to finalist standing. To do so, they must write an essay, score well on the SAT, have an outstanding high school academic record and obtain a recommendation from a high school official.

More than half of the finalists — about 8,000 students — will go on to win a National Merit Scholarship and the accompanying National Merit Scholar title. Final results will be announced next year between April and July.

National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists

Bellaire High School

• Rihab R. Fahad
• Emma C. Foster
• Patrick D. Girardet
• Deedee T. Han
• Michelle Huang
• Rachel M. Lee
• Hanying Li
• KangDi Li
• Bowie R. Lin
• Ridge Liu
• Daniel S. Luo
• Aman Narayan
• Alan E. Perel
• Colin Shi
• Rachel M. Smith
• Jackson H. Su
• Weiyi Wang
• David Wu
• Cicilyn L. Xie
• Anna L. Xu
• Phillip Z. Yuan
• Laura Y. Zhang
• Laurence Zhang
• Mayline P. Zhong
• Jinchen Zou

Carnegie Vanguard High School

• Jeremy E. Davet
• Japhethe M. Eernisse
• Maya C. Fletcher-Bai
• Scott C. Greenberg
• Sergio D. Infante
• Jinah Kim
• Amanda R. Larsen
• Jessica Marino
• Michael Marino
• Adam N. Morrison