Other articles by George Sánchez:

One man's cancer journey'I feel like a chemical factory,' and other stops along the treatment trail The turbulent times of Roger Pfeuffer Horne out of touch, program backers sayDebate on TUSD ethnic studies descends into shouting match TUSD Ethnic Studies targeted TUSD's No. 2 resigns, eyes Marana top job Mystery donor gives $1 million to school School arrest puts TUSD librarian on paid leave TUSD lays off 15 bus monitors in bid to cut costs, balance budget

Mechanical
Komatsu Equipment Co
Resident Field Mechanic Administrative & Professional
Tucson Urban League
CEO/President Finance and Accounting
Charles E. Gillman Company
Accounting Specialist Sales and Marketing
Everready Glass
Sales Reps Administrative & Professional
Jorgensen Brooks Group
Counselor Trades/Construction
RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION

Sixteen Southern Arizona students were named 2008 National Merit scholars on Wednesday.

This group of scholarships is financed by the universities the students plan to attend. Nearly all the scholars are headed to the University of Arizona.

Nationwide, more than 2,800 National Merit Scholarships were announced Wednesday. The awards range between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years.

The local students and the schools from which they graduated are:

● Kevin Berg, Ironwood Ridge High

● Gregory Jacob, Ironwood Ridge High

● Jesse Gunsch, home- schooled

● Stephen Brown, Catalina Foothills High

● Hafez Gharbiah, University High

● Angelynn Hermes, Salpointe Catholic High

● Emily Hosokawa, BASIS Charter School

● Jessica Hung, Catalina Foothills High

● Justin Ludlow, Catalina Foothills High

● Thomas Myers, Catalina Foothills High

● Michael Nelson, Catalina Foothills High

● Matthew Noble, University High

● Joshua Schulter, University High

● Kelley Smith, University High

● Markleigh Swanson, Rincon High

● Xingyuan Yu, University High

All names were provided by National Merit Scholarship Corp.

About 8,200 high school seniors will receive National Merit Scholarships this year, totaling $36 million in awards.

Scholars first applied when they took the 2006 Preliminary SAT. From an initial pool of 1.4 million juniors, 16,000 semifinalists were named.

Nearly all those students met the requirements to become a finalist, which further required an outstanding academic record, endorsement by a school official, SAT scores and an essay describing student activities, interests and goals.

In April, seven local high school students received National Merit Scholarships.

More scholars will be announced in July.