What should be uncommon news at an average high school is, once again, no surprise here at Diamond Bar High School. Twenty-three seniors were named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists based on the results of last October’s PSAT.

The semifinalists are Crystal Chang, Eric Chen, Janet Du, Kevin Gu, Melody Guo, Charlene Hsu, Renée Kau, Betty Kim, Prince Kim, Gloria Lee, Felix Lien, Letitia So, Angela Song, Frances Song, Miriam Hsuan-Te Sun, Jonathan Sun, Kyle Wang, Margaret Wang, Ava Wu, Frances Wu, Jennifer Wu, Claire Yang, and Adele Zhang. The Brahmas will now be competing to become a finalist in February.

In order to be a finalist, students must meet high academic standards throughout their high school career, submit complete applications to their schools officials, and earn SAT scores “that confirm their 2014 PSAT performance.” The semifinalists scored in the top one percent of the nation in the PSAT.

“[I felt] surprised, relieved, and overwhelmed. They sent us one of those yellow notices and I thought I was in trouble or something. And then they said it was for [National Merit Semifinalist] and it was just like wow…I [had] actually made it in, and wow, there’s now a lot of work to be done,” Ava Wu said.

In February of next year, around 15,000 finalists will be named, putting them in the running to win a National Merit Scholarship. The scholarship selectors will evaluate the finalists’ academic ability, PSAT and SAT scores, the high school’s rigor level, the high school official’s written recommendation, the student’s extracurricular activities, and an essay.

“It feels wonderful to be considered a potential finalist and I am grateful for this opportunity, no matter what happens,” Chen said.