Seattle Christian High School principal, Matt Althoff, has announced that Karl Stahlfeld of Burien, has been named a Semifinalist and Parker Bowen (Normandy Park) and Nolan Swain (Burien), have been named Commended Students in the 2015 National Merit Scholarship Program.

As a National Merit Semifinalist, Karl Stahlfeld is among the top one percent, approximately 16,000 high school students across the country, eligible to compete for some 8,000 National Merit Scholarships to be offered in the spring.

Semifinalists are selected based on performance on the Preliminary SAT, taken their junior year of high school. About 90 percent of Semifinalists will become Finalists in the competition by demonstrating outstanding academic achievement and performing well on the SAT.

Commended Students, Parker Bowen and Nolan Swain, are among 34,000 students nationwide who are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise. Although they will not continue in the 2015 competition for National Merit Scholarships, Commended Students placed among the top five percent of more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2015 competition by taking the 2013 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).