Ashley McWhorter and Lindsay Bartol, Plano residents and students at Trinity Christian Academy (TCA) were honored by the National Merit Scholarship Program and ranked as a National Merit Semi-Finalist. As semi-finalists, McWhorter and Bartol will be notified by the organization by mid-February whether they will advance as a finalist in the competition. Last year, 1.6 million students entered the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2016 Preliminary SAT and were judged based on PSAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test scores. Throughout the competition, about 34,000 commended students throughout the nation are recognized for their exceptional academic promise. Avery Schuster was also recognized from TCA.