Three local students receive recognition from National Merit Scholarship programYou can find three of the more than 16,000 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists right in your own backyard. The Evanston, Ill.-based National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced the expansive list earlier this month, placing Southern Door’s Grant Pieschek, Sturgeon Bay’s Keira Wesley, and Rylen Hinckley among the distinguished group of seniors. The students are vying for 6,930 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million. About 15,000 students will find out if they are finalists in February before the final awards are presented in the spring and early summer. Last year, Southern Door’s Ben Grota was named a finalist.