After being named semi-finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program last September, Pinecrest High School seniors Benjamin Berk and Joshua Seidenberg have now been named finalists in the program.

More than 1.5 million students entered the 2009 National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). The 2009 National Merit finalists represent less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors and are the highest-scoring entrants in the country on the qualifying test.

Berk and Seidenberg are members of a select group of approximately 15,000 students nationwide who have been chosen to advance to the finalist stage of the competition.

In selecting the Merit Scholarship winners, a variety of information is evaluated, including each finalist's academic record, information about the school's curricula and grading system, two sets of test scores, school officials' written recommendation, information about the student's activities and leadership, and the finalist's own essay.

Beginning in March and continuing to mid-June, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation will notify approximately 8,200 finalists that they have been selected to receive a Merit Scholarship award. Merit Scholarship awards are of three types: National Merit $2,500 Scholarships, Corporate-Sponsored Merit Scholarship Awards, or College-Sponsored Merit Scholarship Awards.