Eight students from Clear Lake High School and Clear Brook High School are among the 13 Clear Creek ISD seniors named National Merit Semifinalists on Tuesday, Sept. 22.

The designation places all 13 students in the top 1% of high school seniors nationwide, according to the district's announcement. The 72nd annual National Merit Scholarship Program is run by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), which recognizes academically accomplished seniors through its competition each year.

Clear Lake High School led the district with six semifinalists: Vethmin DeZoysa, Samiksha Dhar Roy, Jason Dong, Brooklynn Mayo, Cathryn Wu and Rafael Zhang. That is nearly half the district's total.

Clear Brook High School's two semifinalists are Zaid Asad and Kara Pham.

Five other CCISD seniors at three district high schools outside the Clear Lake area also earned semifinalist status.

To advance to finalist status, semifinalists must meet additional academic and application requirements set by the NMSC. About 95% of semifinalists are expected to become finalists. Approximately half of those finalists will earn a National Merit Scholarship and the Merit Scholar title.

The stakes are significant. CCISD's 13 semifinalists now compete for roughly 6,930 scholarships worth nearly $26 million, according to the district.

For families tracking the process, the path forward works like this, according to NMSC: semifinalists submit a detailed application through their high school, including an essay and a record of school activities and leadership; confirm their qualifying scores by taking the SAT or ACT; and are endorsed by a school official. NMSC reviews those materials before selecting finalists.

Scholarship winners will be announced next spring, according to the district.