Affton High School senior Anjuli Farha has been named a semifinalist in the 58th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

Farha is one of roughly 16,000 students nationwide to be named a semifinalist, according to a news release, representing less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors. They include the highest-scoring entrants in each state, based on their performance during the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

At Affton, Farha is involved in Mathletes and received the Skills USA bronze medal for the Missouri Technical Math competition. In her spare time, she volunteers at the World Bird Sanctuary and serves through a religious organization.

Farha now advances to the finalist level of the competition. To be considered she must maintain her outstanding academic record in high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay and earn SAT scores that confirm her earlier performance on the qualifying test.

The 2013 National Merit Scholarship winners will be announced beginning in April and concluding in July.