With its largest group of students earning the prestigious title, Center Hill High School broke its record in the National Merit Scholarship competition this year.

After taking the PSAT test, eight CHHS students were named 2022 National Merit Semifinalists: Alexs Chen, Joseph Cunningham, Wren Dempsey, Joss Lubenstein, Trevor Luttrell, Kaylee Novosad, Ashlyn Peacock, and Chloe Ratcliff.

“About 1.5 million high school juniors take the PSAT during school in October. However, students who cannot attend the in-school sitting may participate through a method known as “Alternate Entry” using SAT Scores instead,” explained Piqosity in its round-up article on this year’s semifinalists from around the state. Out of the high schools in Mississippi, Center Hill landed in the top five by number of Semifinalists. The Hill tied for third place with Hernando, trailing behind the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science with 15 and and Madison Central High School with 18.

“More than 16,000 of the high scorers, representing less than 1% of the nation’s high school graduating seniors, will qualify as Semifinalists,” according to the program’s website, but Semifinalists must meet several other requirements and be considered a “Finalist” before they can be considered for a National Merit Scholarship. Of those considered, only 2,500 students will earn the title of National Merit Scholar and with it a $2,500 scholarship.

Although not semifinalists, two other Mustangs were named “Commended Scholars” in the competition, scoring in the top 2%-3% of the PSAT takers that year. 16 total seniors from Center Hill High School received National Recognition status.