Each year, more than 1.5 million high school juniors take the PSAT test to help qualify for college entrance and scholarships. And each year, students who achieve the top 16,000 scores among all test-takers are named National Merit Semifinalists.

Hillcrest High School has one student on the list this year: Sydney L. Pedigo.

According to the National Merit website, about half of the Semifinalists will receive $2,500 National Merit scholarships, while the scores of the others help them obtain merit scholarships from colleges.