Seven seniors at Trinity Christian Academy (TCA) have been named semifinalists in the 2013 National Merit® Scholarship program, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation’s competition for recognition and scholarships. As National Merit semifinalists, the TCA students have some of the highest PSAT scores in the state of Texas, and they represent the less than one percent of high school graduating seniors in the nation who qualify for this honor. This year, the National Merit Scholarship program named 16,000 semifinalists in total.

The qualifying TCA students are as follows:

• Emily Floch, 17, is a resident of Dallas. She is also a member of the AP art program at TCA.

• Jonathan Harper, 17, is a resident of Dallas. He currently plays in the TCA band and on the varsity tennis team.

• Mandaline Kam, 17, is a resident of Richardson. She also runs on the varsity cross country team at TCA.

• Brian Kegerreis, 17, is a resident of Plano. He is currently involved with his church youth band as the bass guitar player.

• Tobias Kim, 18, is a resident of Richardson. He currently serves as the TCA Student Body President.

• Michael Novakovich, 17, is a resident of Dallas. He is also involved in TCA’s Yearbook Committee as the High School Sports Editor.

• Austin Perschbacher, 17, is a resident of Coppell. He also participates in the advanced drama program at TCA.

“TCA is dedicated to providing an enriching and challenging learning environment that prepares our students for the future, and we are excited to have seven of our seniors recognized at National Merit semifinalists this year,” said TCA Headmaster Dave Delph. “We are extremely proud of all our students, and the TCA community will be cheering these seven semifinalists on to the final round of the scholarship competition.”

To participate in the 2013 National Merit Scholarship competition, students must have taken the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship qualifying test in October 2011, be enrolled as a high school student progressing normally toward graduation by 2013 and be a citizen of the United States or a lawful permanent resident. National Merit finalists will be announced in February 2013, and the 15,000 finalists will be judged based on their abilities, skills and accomplishments.