Five Mehlville School District students have earned the distinction of being named National Merit Scholarship Finalists.

They are Iain Bennett, Abby Menkhus, Madelyn Reinagel and Caroline Tank from Oakville High and Andrew Eschete from Mehlville High.

An estimated 1.5 million students began the process of becoming a National Merit Scholarship winner by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The five Mehlville students had to write essays as part of the process to advance from National Merit Semifinalists to one of 15,000 Finalists.

All winners of National Merit Scholarship awards are chosen from the Finalist group based on their abilities, skills and accomplishments. Each student will be evaluated on their academic record, information about the school’s curricula and grading system, two sets of test scores, high school officials’ written recommendation, information about the student’s activities and leadership and the Finalist’s own essay.

Scholarships will be awarded to 7,400 students, and the recipients’ names will be announced this spring.