Two Vicksburg students have been named semifinalists in the 2009 National Merit Scholarship Program.  

Kiefer D. Slaton, a senior at Vicksburg High School and the son of Kimble and Susan Slaton, said he hopes to attend Mississippi State University in the fall and major in architecture.

At VHS, Keifer is a member of the Key Club, swim team, tennis team and National Honor Society, and is president of Mu Alpha Theta, a math honor society.

Rachel C. Clarke, a senior at St. Aloysius High School and the daughter of Joan and Douglas Clarke, also plans to attend Mississippi State, where she will major in biological science with the hopes of entering physical therapy school.

At St. Aloysius, Rachel is a member of the swim and liturgical teams, National Honor Society and Mu Alpha Theta.

Online

National Merit Scholarship Program: www.nationalmerit.org

About 16,000 National Merit Semifinalists were chosen from more than 1.5 million applicants. Semifinalists make up less than 1 percent of the national high school population and are chosen based on scores from the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Rachel and Keifer are among 144 Mississippians who were named semifinalists.

National Merit Finalists will be announced in February. About 15,000 students are expected to advance to the Finalist level and those students will then compete for some $35 million in scholarships.

The National Merit Scholarship Program, established in 1955, is a nonprofit organization.

In the 2008 National Merit program, one student from Vicksburg was named a finalist.