Hawaii Preparatory Academy seniors Tristan Kilkenny, Jordan Virtue and Will White were named semifinalists in the 61st annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
Martin Ferrell, Hawaii Prep’s dean of academics, made the announcement.
Kilkenny, Virtue and White will continue in the competition for 7,400 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million that will be offered next spring.
Kilkenny, the son of John Kilkenny of Kailua-Kona and Katherine Tangman of Portland, Ore., is a member of Cum Laude, the school’s honor society.
Kilkenny is a talented pianist and gymnast, and also is a member of HPA’s wrestling and track and field teams.
Virtue, the daughter of Rodger and Melissa Virtue of Kapaau, is an English teaching assistant, co-president of the Spanish Club and a member of Cum Laude and the varsity swimming/diving and tennis teams.
In her community, Virtue is an altar server and lector at her church and teaches sixth-grade religious education classes before Mass each week at Sacred Hearth Parish in Hawi.
White, the son of John and Laurie White of Waimea, also is student body president, residence hall prefect and a member of Cum Laude and the varsity basketball team.
White is an accomplished banjo player, a First Robotics National Contest qualifier and one of five national finalists in the Rand McNally America the Beautiful Essay Contest.
About 1.5 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2016 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2014 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants.
The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state.
The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.
National Merit Scholarship winners of 2016 will be announced beginning in April and concluding in July.
