On Sept. 12, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced the names of the 16,000 high school seniors who qualify for semifinalist status in the annual National Merit Scholarship Program, based on their performance as juniors in the 2011 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).

 Fifty-six of those students are from HISD schools. Broken down by campus, they are from:

•  Bellaire HS—33
• Carnegie Vanguard HS—5
• DeBakey HS—10
• High School for the Performing and Visual Arts—5
• Lamar HS—2
• Westside HS—1

 The semifinalists, who are the highest-scoring entrants from each state, represent less than one percent of all U.S. seniors. About 90 percent of them are expected to attain finalist standing, and more than half of those will subsequently win a National Merit Scholarship.