Eleven Farmington-area students are among the 16,000 semifinalists in the 58th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. 

The seniors have the opportunity to compete for 8,300 National Merit Scholarships worth $32 million, which will be awarded next spring. Students must fulfill several requirements in order to advance to the Finalist level, and about 90 percent of Semifinalists are expected to attain that standing. More than half of those students will receive scholarships. 

High school juniors qualify for the program by taking the 2011 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Semifinalists represent less than one percent of high school seniors. 

Local honorees are:

Farmington High

Rohit R. Bhadange

Sahit Bollineni

Kate M. Diehl

Taania Girgla

Anisha Sudarshan

Jane H. Xiao

Harrison High

Dania N. Khan

Peter A. Romero

Mercy High

Christina A. Hadley

Stephanie C. Luther

North Farmington

Owen Yang

Officials with the National Merit Scholarship Corporation caution that using the number of Semifinalists to compare schools "will result in erroneous conclusions", as the program honors individual students who show "exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies". 

Source: National Merit Scholarship Corporation press release