If you’ve been keeping track at home, Door and Kewaunee counties are home to four 2024-2025 National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalists. Southern Door School District became the latest to share the good news earlier this week, announcing that senior Ben Grota had made the list. Grota is one of more than 16,000 students who earned distinction from the initial pool of 1.3 million test takers. In addition to being a good student, Grota has excelled outside of the classroom as an all-conference cross country and track runner, the Southern Door High School newspaper editor, and the district’s representative at Badger Boys State. As a semifinalist, he will now have to submit an in-depth scholarship application to become eligible for $26 million in scholarships next spring. He joins Sturgeon Bay’s Luke Selle Luxemburg-Casco’s Cady Bevins and Hudson Thiry as National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalists.