The Brecksville-Broadview Heights City Schools would like to congratulate the following individuals for recently being named National Merit Scholar Semi-Finalists: Joshua L. Ackerman, Jillian R. Butler, Frank G. Gallo, Vikram S. Iyer, and Zachary B. Zywiec. Specifically elevating to the status of National Merit Semi-Finalist, the BBHCSD students now rank among the top 16,000 students in the entire nation for this 68th annual contest hosted by the National Merit Scholarship Program. The nationwide pool of Semi-Finalists represents less than one percent of U.S. High School seniors and includes the highest scoring entrants from each state in the country. These academically talented seniors now have an opportunity to continue in the competition to become among the top 7,250 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28 million in total value. Such high achievement demonstrates their respective pursuit of academic excellence.