Luke Weeks, a senior at Coosa High School, and Darlington students Madeline Briggs and Andrew White are a finalists in the 2010 National Merit Scholarship Program.

“Madde and A.J. are outstanding members of the Darling-ton Community, and we are extremely proud of their accomplishments,” said Sam Moss, dean of college guidance. “It is quite an honor to earn finalist status in the National Merit Program, and we wish them the best of luck in competing for these scholarships in the spring. They are successful students, strong leaders and great candidates overall.”

Approximately 15,000 high school seniors nationwide are selected as finalists, and have an opportunity to compete for some 8,200 Merit Scholarship awards. Scholarship winners will be announced in the spring.

Scholars are chosen based on criteria including academic record, test scores, school officials’ written recommendation, information about the student’s activities and leadership and the finalist’s own essay.

More than 1.5 million juniors in nearly 21,000 U.S. high schools entered the 2010 National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/ National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, which represents less than 1 percent of U.S. high school sen-iors, includes the highest scoring entrants in each state.

To become a finalist, a semifinalist must have an out-standing academic record throughout the high school years, be endorsed and recommended by the school principal, and earn SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier qualifying test performance. The student must also submit a self-descriptive essay and information about participation and leadership in school and community activities.