Four students from Knoxville and Pella High Schools are on the list of semifinalists for the National Merit Scholarship. Nadezhda Khapochkina, Jakub Martisovits and Todd Wegter of Pella High School; and Kirk Gordon of Knoxville High School are among approximately 16,000 academically-talented students nationwide vying for over $36 million in scholarships. To become a Finalist, students must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by the high school principal, and earn SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on a qualifying test, among other qualifications. The 2010 National Merit Scholarship winners will begin being announced this spring.