17 Redmond High teens scholarship semifinalists

Redmond High School led the Eastside in the number of seniors named as semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship's prestigious scholarship program.

Seventeen students at Redmond High made the cut, a number that surprised and thrilled the head of the guidance department.

"In the past, if we've gotten five, we would think we were in heaven," said Anita Page, a guidance counselor in the Lake Washington District for 30 years.

Page praised the culture at Redmond High, where she said the goal is to put a "love of learning" in each child.

Rather than pressure students into one mold, Redmond High encourages students to go where their curiosity leads, she said.

"These kids want to take it all," Page said. "They want to experience everything."

Mercer Island High School had 12 semifinalists this year and Inglemoor High School in Kenmore saw 11 students make the list.

All of the semifinalists at Inglemoor participate in the International Baccalaureate program there, said coordinator Jeanie Yocum.

"Sometimes we're criticized for pushing kids too much," Yocum said. "But it doesn't matter how high we push the bar up, we still have kids who want to reach it."

Students qualify for the honor by scoring in the top 1 percent of students in each state who took the preliminary SAT.

Nationally, about 16,000 of the 1.3 million students taking the PSAT last year qualified as semifinalists.

To become finalists, the students must complete detailed scholarship applications, be recommended by their school principal and earn SAT scores that confirm their earlier test performance.

About 8,000 finalists will be offered Merit Scholarship awards next spring.

Ning-Yi Zheng , another International Baccalaureate student, said it was disappointing to miss the semifinalist round by two points. But she still earned a commendation from the program.

"It gives me an enjoyable feeling, the knowledge of accomplishing so much, and pleasing my teachers as well as myself," said Zheng, who hopes to become a surgeon. "It's an award in itself."

Semifinalists at Eastside schools, by city, are:

BELLEVUE

Bellevue High School: Tyson Eberhardt, Caroline Leeds, David Ryan, Jie Tang.

Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart: Emily Abrash, Christine Deyo, Kellie Ferguson, Megan Hanley, Monica Tanner.

Newport High School: Clayton Chang, Andy Huang, Kristiane Koontz, Brynn MacCoy, Lev Navarre.

Robinswood High School: Leigh Golden.

Sammamish High School: Jin Cho, Stephen Mar.

DUVALL

Cedarcrest High School: Sam Al-Khoury, Charles Long.

ISSAQUAH

Issaquah High School: Phillip Hue.

KENMORE

Inglemoor High School: Caley Anderson, Katherine Bayles, Christopher Blair, Elisabeth Calhoon, Jonathan Dethloff, Kevin Ewell, Benjamin Fidler, Chenxing Han, Ian Jacobs, Ashley Keilman, Bo Wang.

KIRKLAND

Christ Church Academy: Dustin Somers.

International Community School: Nikolas Sherrow-Groves, Allison Strother.

Juanita High School: Ray Linford, Jonathan Murray, Laura Rosen, Matthew Winkler.

MERCER ISLAND

Mercer Island High School: Daniel Babinski, Caitlin Connolly, William Defliese, Matthew Gratt, Alexa Jay, Christopher Kemp, Kenneth Kuan, Christine Masuda, Madeline McKee, Hannah Newmark, Gregory Trowbridge, Kai Zhao.

Northwest Yeshiva High School: Sarah Medved.

REDMOND

The Bear Creek School: Thomas Duffy, Chris Hammond, Sarah Switzer.

The Overlake School: Kaitlin Arena, Emily Butzi, David Eitelbach, Richard Fulton, Evan Sebenius, Shivani Srivastava, Cordelie Witt, Rachel Zeno.

Redmond High School: Nikolay Blajev, Clara Cantor, Yewleh Chee, Jennifer Cushing, Tammy Guo, Emily Hu, Thomas Lee, Graham Macaree, Cian Malone, Emmett Nicholas, David Palmiter, Benjamin Slade, Jennifer Sovey, Jeffrey Staples, Ram "Nick" Talwar, Jennifer Wilson, Ernest Yang.

RENTON

Oliver M. Hazen High School: Shana Straub, Krista Weiss, Amy Withers.

Charles A. Lindbergh High School: Brittany Ford.

SAMMAMISH

Eastlake High School: Michael Skinner, Sarah Washburn.

Skyline High School: Erin Flanagin, Joel Park.

WOODINVILLE

Woodinville High School: Taryn Gilbert, Diana Husmann, Isaac Nelson-King, Stephen Timm.