The National Merit Scholarship Corporation publicized the names of approximately 16,000 semifinalists today in the 60th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

Two of these semifinalists, Robin Tumlinson and Molly Buffington, are seniors at Hartselle High School.

The girls have been national recognized for their outstanding PSAT scores from last year.

They will have the opportunity to continue in the competition for National Merit Scholarships worth about $33 million to be offered next spring. To be considered for these scholarships, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level.

According to the NMSP website, about 15,000 students will be chosen as finalist next February. About half of those finalists will receive some sort of National Merit, corporate-sponsored or college-sponsored scholarship.

Tumlinson and Buffington were among 1.4 million juniors who took the 2013 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test last year.

Molly Buffington

Robin Tumlinson