They qualified for the prestigious honor by scoring highly on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which they took last year.

Semifinalists represent less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors. They are eligible to win 8,200 National Merit scholarships to be awarded in the spring.

This year's semifinalists from Thomas Worthington High School are Rachel Webb, Matthew Tischer, Taylor Russi and Rachel Keeler.

From Worthington Kilbourne, the semifinalists are Rebecca Borden, Roy Greim, Ryhan Hassan, Maria Khrakovsky, Matthew Mayberry, Emily Singeltary, Kyle Troutner and Bernard Wen.

Rachel Webb, daughter of Steven and Naila Webb, likes to study English and history in high school. She is on the varsity tennis team and plays violin in the orchestra. She also is taking a course in Arabic at Kent State University.

In college, she plans to study international relations with an emphasis on Middle East studies and Arabic. She would like to attend Georgetown University.

Matthew Tischer, son of Alan and Janet Tischer, enjoys math and takes part in theater at school and in the community. He is also involved in Science Olympiad.

He plans to study engineering in college.

Taylor Russi is the daughter of Sherri and Steve Russi. She attends the Linworth Alternative Program where she enjoys art and writing and is in the ski club and the book club.

She hopes to attend Kenyon College or an art college and become a painter or a novelist.

Rachel Keeler, daughter of Joanne Dehoney and Andy Keeler, attends the Linworth Alternative Program and likes to study math and chemistry.

She is in the marching band and the jazz band and competes in the National Ocean Sciences Bowl.

She plans to study math, science or engineering in college.

Rebecca Borden, daughter of Rod and Lori Borden, enjoys math and science. She is involved in horseback riding, choir, and church youth group.

She would like to attend either Ohio State University or the University of Michigan. She has not decided on a major, but is considering aerospace engineering.

Roy Greim, son of David and Kyoko Greim, enjoys studying history.

He participates on the In The Know team, the ultimate Frisbee club, the Columbus Symphony Youth Orchestra, tennis and the glee club.

He would like to become a teacher and is considering attending Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore or Dartmouth college.

Ryhan Hassan, son of Mahbubul Hassan and Nonko Katsube, likes to study math and science. He is on the In The Know team, plays violin in the orchestra and is on Prospice, the literary magazine.

He plans to attend Ohio State University, Northwestern or Carnegie Mellon to study computer science.

Maria Khrakovsky, daughter of Alex and Julia Khrakovsky, enjoys math and French and takes part in choir, tennis and theater.

She plans to study finance or statistics at Ohio State University, the University of Michigan, MIT or Carnegie Mellon.

Matthew Mayberry, son of David and Anastasia, likes to study English and government.

He coaches middle school football, has taken part in school plays, and plays trombone in the wind ensemble.

He plans to become a lawyer and would like to attend Dartmouth College, Northwestern, Cornell or Columbia universities.

Emily Singeltary, daughter of Becky and Jim Singeltary, enjoys Spanish and English.

She participates in cross country and track is volunteers at Children's Hospital.

She hopes to study linguistics at Ohio State University, the University of Chicago or New York University.

Bernard Wen, son of Ping Wen and Huiling He, likes to study science and math. He volunteers with the youth group at his church and belongs to the ultimate Frisbee club and the National Honor Society.

He is considering studying medicine and attending Northwestern, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Duke or Franklin.

Kyle Troutner, the son of Doug and Kim Troutner, likes math and history. He participates in cross country, the ultimate Frisbee club and the National Honor Society.

He would like to major in computer science and Japanese at Ohio State University, Carnegie Mellon, Emory or Washington University.

cbrooks@thisweeknews.com