photo by: Contributed Photos

Left photo: Lawrence High School National Merit Scholar Semifinalists are, from left, Azucena Melchor, Alexis Moulton, Aidan Pierce and Emily Guo. Right photo: Free State High School National Merit Scholar Semifinalists, in the bottom row, from left, are Annika Syverson, Christina Lee and Sophia Mitra; in the top row, from left, are Helena All, Bayn Schrader and Nora Agah.

Four seniors at Lawrence High School and six seniors at Free State High School have been named National Merit Scholar semifinalists, the school district announced this week.

More than 1.6 million juniors in about 22,000 high schools entered the 2019 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2017 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, according to a news release from the school district. The 16,000 semifinalists represent less than 1 percent of high school seniors, the release said.

Semifinalists may complete an application process that includes letters of recommendation, an essay and an SAT score that confirms the PSAT score, the release said. Those who are selected as finalists will be notified in February, and National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from that pool.