A handful of Granite District students are part of a select group of pupils nationwide who were named National Merit Scholarship semi-finalists.

The program is a competition for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955. Students enter the National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

Approximately 15,000 students nationwide qualified as semifinalists in the program. Of that group, finalists will be chosen based on abilities, skills and accomplishments, and will be awarded thousands of dollars in scholarship money.

Here are Granite’s 2015 National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalists:

Sophie Ack, Skyline High
Benjamin Kerr, Cottonwood High
Douglas Brian, Skyline High
Christian Castleberry, Skyline High
Ellenor Chi, Skyline High
Everest Fang, Skyline High
Jessica Hamblin, Hunter High
Lydia Hartman, Skyline High
Benjamin Huang, Skyline High
Lane Kadish, Skyline High
Alexander Miller, Skyline High
John Myers, Skyline High
Anika Nacey, Cyprus High
William Newbold, Skyline High
Kira Parker, Skyline High
Claire Simon, Skyline High
Zebulon Vanhoffman, Skyline High
Juncen Wang, Skyline High
Gabriel Zharov, Skyline High