Senior Derek Phillips has been named a semifinalist for the National Achievement Scholarship Program scholarship.

Phillips took the PSAT, which entered him in the running to receive a scholarship from the National Merit Scholarship Program.

The National Achievement Scholarship Program, which runs under the National Merit Scholarship Corporation but is separate from the merit program, is for African American high school students.

Philips started out as one of 160,000 students that applied for the scholarship. Now, he is in the semifinals in a group of 1,600 students. Next, he could become a finalist in a group of 1,300. The final stage narrows the field to 800 students that win an Achievement Scholarship of $2500.

Phillips hopes to use the money to pursue his academic interests.

“I plan on doing some sort of engineering, possibly aerospace,” Phillips said.

Phillips is looking at multiple schools in California and New England for engineering programs.

“I’m looking at Stanford, my first choice, Cal Tec, MIT, Brown, and Olden, which is a small college in Massachusetts for engineering.” Phillips said.