Fifteen high school seniors in Lexington-Richland Five have been named semifinalists in the 58th Annual National Merit Scholarship Program. 

The students were among 16,000 students nationwide to achieve the ranking, according to officials at the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

Students include:

• Irmo High: Helen Birdsong, Samuel Collinsworth and Jaidev Satish 
• Dutch Fork High: Grigory Avsyuk, Beau Bennett, Lauren Blanchette, Ellen Gardiner, Madeline Kowalski, Samadwara Reddy, and Benjamin Shealy
• Chapin High: Michael Bagley, Hannah Derrick, Mary Efird, Jacob Lass and Erika McVey 

More than 1.5 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2013 National Merit Program by taking the 2011 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation is a nonprofit organization established in 1955.  It is supported in part by approximately 500 business organizations and higher education institutions. 

From Lexington-Richland 5's Office of Public Information