What's Happening in Lindenhurst, NY…

Jeevan Vangala, a student at Lindenhurst High School, has made it to the semifinals of the National Merit Scholarship contest.

Vangala is one of 16,000 students across the U.S. who made it to this stage. The students were chosen from a pool of 1.5 million high school juniors who took the preliminary SAT (PSAT) and National Merit Scholarship Qualifying test in 2014. Students from around 22,000 high schools across the country participated in the first round of testing.

Nearly 90 percent of semifinalists should move on to the final round, and about half of those who make it to the finals will earn a National Merit Scholarship. There are about 7,400 scholarships available, totaling more than $32 million. The final award winners will be announced in the spring.

To move on to the next round, Lindenhurst High School and Vangala will need to submit a complete application, which includes his academic record, his extracurricular activities, leadership roles and any other honors or awards he has received. The school could use a local printing company to help put together the application packet.

As part of the application, an official from the high school needs to give him a recommendation and endorsement. Vangala will also need to earn SAT scores similar to what he earned on the PSAT.

Once that is completed, he will find out if he has made it to the next round in February.