Waterville Senior High School senior Soren Nyhus has been named a semifinalist in the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program, according to a news release from Principal Brian Laramee.

Throughout the nation approximately 16,000 academically qualified semifinalist have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million that will be offered next spring. Semifinalist placed among the top one percent of more than 1.6 million students across 22,000 high schools who entered the 2018 competition by taking the 2016 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, according to the release.

The nationwide pool of semifinalist includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number of semifinalist in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

National Merit Scholarship winners of 2018 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July.

Nyhus is the son of Philip Nyhus and Gail Carlson.