Two high schoolers from Gainesville among those still in the running for national scholarships

EVANSTON, Ill. - Two high school students from Gainesville are among thousands from across the country named semi-finalists for a college scholarship.<br /> <br /> David Lawson of Chestatee High School is among 16,000 semi-finialists in the 60th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. He and the others remain in the running for some 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth about $33 million that will be offered next spring. <br /> <br /> About 90 percent of them are expected to attain "finalist" standing, and more than half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.<br /> <br /> This program was established in 1955 with a goal of honoring the nation's scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.<br /> <br /> In addition to Lawson, there are other students from northeast Georgia who have been named semi-finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program. (They are listed at the end of this story.)<br /> <br /> Meanwhile, Jakim T. Johnson of Gainesville High School is one of more than 1,600 black high school students named semi-finalists in the 51st annual National Achievement Scholarship Program. <br /> <br /> Johnson and the others remain in competition for about 800 scholarships worth about $2.5 million that also will be offered next spring. About 80 percent of them are expected to become finalists and more than half of the finalists will win a scholarship.<br /> <br /> This program began in 1964 to recognize and reward academically promising black students. It, like the other one, operates without government assistance. <br /> <br /> <br /> Additional students from northeast Georgia who have been named semi-finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program: <br /> <br /> <b>BUFORD</b><br /> HOMESCHOOL<br /> Spivey, Stephen C.<br /> <br /> <br /> <b>CUMMING</b><br /> FORSYTH CENTRAL H. S.<br /> Rawlings, John M.<br /> Zhai, Amy J.<br /> NORTH FORSYTH H. S.<br /> Browning, Emma M.<br /> Grasso, Brian M.<br /> SOUTH FORSYTH H. S.<br /> Konda, Rohi T.<br /> Kota, Akhil<br /> Lewis, Averi G.<br /> Newsome, Abigail L.<br /> WEST FORSYTH H. S.<br /> Gerhard, Shannon A.<br /> Mewes, Shannon E.<br /> <br /> <br /> <b>DAHLONEGA</b><br /> LUMPKIN COUNTY H. S.<br /> Landrum, Donald E.<br /> <br /> <br /> <b>HOSCHTON</b><br /> MILL CREEK H. S.<br /> Braun, Christian A.<br /> <br /> <br /> <b>JEFFERSON</b><br /> JEFFERSON H. S.<br /> Jarrett, Harold R.<br /> <br /> <br /> <b>SUGAR HILL</b><br /> LANIER H. S.<br /> Song, Dain<br /> <br /> <br /> <b>SUWANEE</b><br /> COLLINS HILL H. S.<br /> Moraes, Katherine E.<br /> LAMBERT H. S.<br /> Clark, Joseph T.<br /> Feinstein, Mahala C.<br /> Neff, Philip R.<br /> Panda, Sambit<br /> Yan, Rebecca X.<br /> NORTH GWINNETT H. S.<br /> Kim, Hyung S.<br /> Lossner, Elton G.<br /> Manoharan, Yeshwant<br /> Muhammad, Hasib<br /> Paik, Megan J.<br /> PEACHTREE RIDGE H. S.<br /> Best, Blake T.<br /> Collins, Michael G.<br /> Li, Jenny<br /> Shah, Simi N.

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