2 area seniors named National Merit finalists

Feb. 22—Two area seniors have been named National Merit finalists.

College Heights Christian School senior Ethan Ukena was named a National Merit Scholarship Program finalist. He is the son of Jim and Shannon Ukena of Carthage.

Ukena was named a finalist out of the more than 1.3 million students who took thePreliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test their junior year — a nationwide pool of semifinalists that represents less than 1% of high school seniors.

Finalists are selected based on their academic records, school and community activities, employment, demonstration of leadership abilities, and honors and awards received.

College Heights Christian School started in 1978 and has grown to over 600 students per year. The students represent 70 different churches in the region, with over 1,200 total graduates over the past 44 years.

Carl Junction

Carl Junction High School senior Liam Hall also has been named a finalist in the National Merit Scholarship Program.

He is the son of Meggan and Jerad Hall of Carl Junction.

Hall plans to attend Tulsa University, major in political science and eventually attend law school.

All finalists will be considered for National Merit Scholarships, earning the Merit Scholar title.

About 7,000 finalists each year receive a combined total of more than $28 million in National Merit Scholarships toward their college education.

Scholarships will be awarded between March and June.

National Merit Scholarship finalists across the nation compete for scholarships from three categories:

—National Merit $2,500 scholarships.

—Corporate-sponsored merit scholarships.

—College-sponsored merit scholarships.