At Athens High School, no one asks Will Shannon and Deborah Cox what they made on their last report cards. Everyone knows.

Each of the seniors has a 4.0 grade point average and are members of the honor society.

Now, Will and Deborah, both 18, can add to their lists of academic achievements — they were named National Merit Semifinalists this week.

More than 1.4 million students were eligible for the honor based on scores from preliminary SAT tests (or PSATs), and Will and Deborah are among only 16,000 nationwide who were named semifinalists.

The students will now apply to become National Merit Finalists (about 15,000 students are chosen nationwide), then National Merit Scholars (8,200 students nationwide), but Athens High School Principal Chris Bolin said reaching semifinalist level is a high achievement.

“Athens High School, Athens City Schools and the City of Athens should be and are extremely proud of these students,” Bolin said. “They do a good job in the classroom and do a good job in academics but they are also good citizens.”

Being a National Merit Semifinalist guarantees Will and Deborah some college scholarship money and reaching Finalist or Scholar could mean full-tuition scholarships, depending on the college. But getting there means receiving high scores on SATs they took in their junior year (scores to be announced in November) and another round of the application process.

“We have to fight tooth and nail for it,” Deborah said with a smile.

But for students accustomed to being at the head of the class, the fight is part of the bigger picture. “We set a precedent when we were younger making good grades and we kept up with it,” Deborah said.

Will, the only child of Wendell and Gracelia Shannon of Athens, is not sure what course of study he will pursue in college. Just five weeks into his senior year, he already has college credit from the Dual Enrollment program at Calhoun Community College and has been accepted to attend the University of North Alabama and Auburn University after graduation in May.

Deborah, daughter of Ken and Lauren Cox of Athens, hopes to attend Samford University or The University of Mississippi. Deborah, whose sister Beverly is a junior at Athens High School, plans to become a pharmacist.

Despite hectic academic schedules that include advanced and honors courses, Will and Deborah take time from studying to participate in extracurricular activities.

They spend plenty of time in the band room, where Will plays trombone and is a section leader and Deborah is drum major.

In addition, Will is a member of Student Council, Beta Club, the Spanish Club and the National Honor Society. Deborah is in Beta Club, National Honor Society, Junior Civitan, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and Future Business Leaders of America. She is also active in choir and youth group at First Baptist Church of Athens.

Will said teachers and administrators helped prepare the students for PSATs, the SATs and the application process.

“It’s a big honor and accomplishment,” he said. “We owe a lot to the people who helped us.”

The students took a school-sponsored course last year to prepare them for testing. Bolin said the school staff takes pride in recognizing students who can and want to further their achievements and helping them reach those goals.

“We have placed greater emphasis in this area over the past two years,” he said. “The scholarship opportunities are vast. We look at academic progress in the 10th grade and give them the pre-test. We identify students who score high and provide opportunities for those students.”

A list of scholarship opportunities is published on the school’s Web site at www.athenshighschool.org .

Bolin said Will and Deborah are an example of what students can achieve with hard work.

“They are good community people,” he said. “They will accomplish a lot — not only in academics.”