The National Merit Scholarship Program has named 81 Houston Independent School District seniors as 2021 semifinalists.

The high school seniors have an opportunity to compete for approximately 7,600 scholarships worth more than $30 million that will be offered next spring. Nationwide there are approximately 16,000 semifinalists in the 66th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

“We are proud of our global scholars who are competing with their peers from across the nation for this prestigious academic honor,” HISD Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan said. “We support and encourage them to maintain the level of excellence that has resulted in their semifinalist designation, despite challenges they may face in this year of flexibility.”

A total of 20 Houston Independent School District students from six high schools have been selected as winners of National Merit Scholarships this year with the final four recipients named this week.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) annually selects winners in three categories: awards funded by corporations-recipients were named in April, awards funded by NMSC-recipients were named in May, and awards sponsored by institutions of higher learning-the first group of recipients were named in June. The final four HISD scholarship winners are in the second and final group of recipients who won awards funded by colleges and universities.

When Bellaire High School Senior Madison Olds thinks back on the past three months, she does so with a sense of bittersweet nostalgia.

She thinks about the missed basketball, baseball, and soccer games where, as a cheerleader, she didn’t get to cheer her teams on to victory. She thinks about the missed trips to Chick-Fil-A for lunch with her friends.

She thinks about missing her senior luncheon, joining with her cap-and-gown-clad classmates for their senior class picture, and graduation practice — all part of an annual Senior Week that she had been looking forward to since she was a freshman.