Amy Groves, daughter of Robbie and Alan Groves of Los Altos, graduated magna cum laude from the Leventhal School of Accounting at the University of Southern California, where she was on the dean’s list for all eight semesters. She is employed at Deloitte, a public accounting firm, in San Francisco.

Ashley Brooke Trepanier Hannebrink, a sophomore at Dartmouth College and the daughter of David and Renee Hannebrink of Los Altos Hills, is studying French in Paris as part of the college’s Foreign Study Program.

Thirteen Los Altos High School seniors achieved semifinalists status in the 2006 National Merit Scholarship competition: Aileen Baecker, Abigail Do, Katherine Fackler, Russell Field, Sean Liu, Joshua Lu, Anna Ostberg, Julia Patrick, Steven Schlansker, Erin Van Erp, Carolyn Whitesell, James Yeh and Larissa Zhou.

This year’s commended students are Alexei Baboulevitch, Carrie Chan, Kathleen Chang, Byron Cheng, Stephanie Chiao, Lillian Donovan-Seid, Madeleine Geisheker, Masha Golovina, Kate Hsih, Yeon Ju Kim, Kyle Macomber, Adrian Marple, Arjun Narang, Jessica Perez, Alicia Roddin, Kevin Shah and Linda Zhao.

Eleven Homestead High School seniors were among the 78 Fremont Union High School District students named semifinalists in the 2006 National Merit Scholarship competition. The Homestead students are Paulina K. Bolinski, Lisa M. Danz, Tammy Do, Andrew C. Huang, Leslie Jaw, Brian K. Lee, Abraham Lin, Hank D. Nguyen, Qiong Qin, Anand Venkatkrishnan and Adeline E. Wong.

The Santa Clara County Office of Education has named the 2005 Teachers of the Year. Local winners are Pat Koren, who teaches physical education at Blach Intermediate School, and Jodi Disario, who teaches English and leadership at Alta Vista High School.