103 Students Reach National Merit Finals

One hundred and three San Fernando Valley-area high school students are finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Corp.’s 1997 annual scholarship competition.

The privately funded nonprofit organization annually selects 15,000 semifinalists from more than 1 million high school students who take the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, based on high test scores.

All semifinalists are qualified to compete in the Merit Scholarship competition.

To be eligible for scholarships, seniors must meet high academic standards and score well on the tests and be recommended by their high school principals.

Harvard-Westlake School in Studio City had the most finalists at 31. North Hollywood High had 20, Van Nuys High had nine and Calabasas High had eight.

Five finalists were named at El Camino Real High in Woodland Hills; four at Cleveland High in Reseda; three each at Taft High and Louisville High in Woodland Hills, Viewpoint School in Calabasas and Chaminade College Preparatory in West Hills; two each at Agoura High, Campbell Hall in North Hollywood, Saugus High and Village Christian High in Sun Valley, and one each at AGBU Manoogian-Demirdjian High in Canoga Park, Paraclete High in Lancaster, Oakwood in North Hollywood, Kennedy High in Granada Hills, Birmingham High in Van Nuys and Quartz Hill High School.