Nine students from the Hamilton County school district are moving on as finalists in the National Merit Scholarship competition.
These students represent the top 1.12 percent of the nation in academies. The students qualified for the competition as juniors because of their high scores on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Qualifying Test (PSAT).
The finalists include five students from Signal Mountain Middle/High School, which is the most in the school's history in one year, and one student each from East Hamilton School, Soddy-Daisy High School, STEM School Chattanooga, and Ooltewah High School.
Hamilton County Schools' 2019 national Merit Finalists include: Benjamin Nelson from East Hamilton; Carter Smith from Ooltewah High; Friedrich "Max" Burk, David Cornea, Jacob Little, Emily Perez and Jack Poss from Signal Mountain Middle/High; Jacob DiChiacchio from Soddy-Daisy High; and Noah Keef from STEM School.
Overall, 24 students in the region were named National Merit semifinalists last fall.
The finalists have the opportunity to win three different scholarship offered through the National Merit Scholarship Corporation; including the National Merit Scholarship, a one-time $2,500 award, for which every Finalist competes.