Twelve Lawrence students were named National Merit Scholar semi-finalists today.About 16,000 high school students nationwide were named semi-finalists for the prestigious scholarship, which pays about $2,500 and also qualifies the students for much larger scholarships from the universities they choose to attend. About 90 percent of semi-finalists will be named finalists in the spring. Until then, they will be rewarded with a never ending stream of phone calls from universities eager to cash their scholarship checks.The lucky 12 from Lawrence are:Bishop Seabury Jeff Miller Liam SmithFree State High School Molly Albrecht Lydia Belcher Katherine Burk Ruth Byers Christopher Carter Timothy Clark Elizabeth Murray Rodolfo Torres-GavostoLawrence High School JoAnn DollHome school Rebekah CurryWe’ll have more on these scholars in a story we’re still working on for this weekend’s Journal-World, but they should be commended for their accomplishment.