Originally published on Oct. 19 on social media. Follow @bhsbearwitness on Instagram or Facebook for the latest coverage.

Six seniors at Branham and 22 other seniors in the Campbell Union High School District were named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists.

This year’s Branham semifinalists are Nathan Chang, Verna Chiou, Aiden Jeong, Lily Junkar, Dhruv Rao and Aaron Tsai. The honor is rewarded to students who score in the top 1% of the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying PSAT during their junior year. The cutoff score, which varies by state, climbed up by three points in California this year to reach an index of 224.

Semifinalists can apply to become finalists and merit scholarship winners. Merit scholarship recipients receive $2,500 and become eligible for college-sponsored scholarships to help fund their college education.

“I’m very thankful, and I’m glad that they’re offering this scholarship, but college costs a lot and hopefully you can make some sort of dent,” Jeong said.

Additionally, Chiou is thankful to be recognized.

“It’s great to be able to represent Branham in my community and this scholarship,” Chiou said. “Branham is a great place, and I’m very honored that I could be one of the people to show [its] academic excellence.”

Chiou studied by utilizing practice tests from the College Board, Princeton Review and Khan Academy then reviewed her mistakes to identify her weaknesses.

“It’s really helpful to not only do practice tests but also review what you got wrong and really learn from it,” Chiou said.

Jeong advises future test takers not to put their sole focus on the exam but also do activities they enjoy.

“Focus on school and the things you like to do,” Jeong said. “If you just read a lot of books and do practice tests, you give yourself a good chance of doing well, but even if you don’t do well, it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day. It feels good, but focus on things that make you happy and that is more important.”

Photos by Emi Mohanrao and Yujin Cho