Salinas has two National Merit semifinalists

but word has it Monterey County has six. Where are the other four?

Aradhana Sinha and Brennan Fahselt of Salinas High were named among 16,000 students nationwide who made it to the semifinals of the National Merit Scholarship program, which recognizes the most talented students in the United States. I've been getting really good reports about Aradhana for the last few years, so I'm not surprised she's in this distinguished list. It's the first I hear from Brennan, but likely won't be the last.

The semifinalists have an opportunity to compete for 8,300 National Merit Scholarships that will be offered in the spring.

About 1.5 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2013 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2011 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which serves as an initial screen of program entrants.

The nationwide pool of semifinalists represent less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, and includes the highest scoring entrants in each state.

Pretty amazing feat, huh? Congratulations, Aradhana and Brennan!