The three Lakewood High School students, who were named National Merit Semifinalists in September, are now finalists for the program.

The National Merit Scholarship Program determined Ryan Cleary, Derek Dashiell and Katherine Reading — among the 16,000 Semifinalists named in September — met the requirements.

To become one of the finalists, the students had to have the full endorsement of the high school principal, a continued record of high achievement and an SAT score that confirms the qualifying score on the PSAT, according to a news release from the Lakewood Schools.  

More than 1.5 million students in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2012 National Merit Scholarship Competition.

Students enter the competition by taking the PSAT their junior year. Semifinalists represent less than 1 percent of US high school seniors and are the highest scoring entrants in their state.