Gloucester High School senior Daniel K. Hook has been named a semifinalist in the 65th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. 

The nationwide pool of semifinalists includes the highest-scoring students who took the 2018 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

To become a finalist, the semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application that provides information about the semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. 

A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school and be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the PSAT.

From the approximately 16,000 semifinalists, about 15,000 are expected to advance to the finalist level, and they will be notified of this ...