Northfield High School seniors Jasmine Barksdale, Muriel Carpenter and Parker Patterson have been named Semifinalists in the 2011 National Merit Scholarship Program.

The seniors are three of approximately 16,000 students from across the country named as semifinalists, according to the National Merit Scholarship Program. This represents about 1 percent of seniors.

Those who advance in the competition become eligible for 8,300 National Merit Scholarships, worth more than $34 million, that will be offered next spring.

Students qualify for the program by taking the Preliminary SAT their junior year. To become a finalist, the student must maintain an excellent high school record, earn a recommendations from the school principal, and earn SAT scores in-line with their PSAT performance.