Sixty-four of Maryland's high school seniors, 21 of them from Baltimore and surrounding counties, have been named semifinalists for National Achievement Scholarships, awarded annually to black high school seniors since 1964.

Semifinalists for the scholarship were announced last week by the National Merit Scholarship Corp., which runs the program.

The students are competing with more than 15,000 high school seniors nationwide for 800 scholarships that total nearly $3 million.

The seniors qualified as semifinalists based on grades, recommendations from school officials and preliminary SAT scores. Each state has an allocation of semifinalist positions based on the number of graduating seniors in the state, said program spokeswoman Elaine Detweiler.

Of the 21 students who qualified from the Baltimore area, six are from the city. A student from Polytechnic Institute, Tara Collier, was the only qualifier from city public schools.

"I'm disappointed that only one student qualified, but I'm also pleased that at least one student qualified, looking at the level of competition nationwide," said Robert Booker, Baltimore's superintendent of schools.

Greenbelt, in Prince George's County, had the state's most qualifiers, with nine students from Eleanor Roosevelt High School. Howard County had nine qualifiers, and Baltimore County had six.

Pub Date: 10/09/98