PARKERSBURG — Five students from Wood County are semifinalists in the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship Program, the National Merit Scholarship Corp. has announced.

They are Megan Midcap and Jackson Wharton from Parkersburg High School, Sophia D’Eramo and Helena Teltscher from Parkersburg Catholic High School and Justin Algmin, who is homeschooled. The students will have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 6,870 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million.

Midcap, Wharton, D’Eramo, Teltscher and Algmin were among 70 semifinalists in West Virginia.

About 1.3 million juniors at more than 21,000 high schools entered the 2025 National Merit Program by taking the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which was an initial screening of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest scoring entrants in each state.

To become a finalist, the semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application providing information about the semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received.

All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from a group of 16,000 finalists. Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2025.