National Merit Names Local Semifinalists

Eleven students in Edgemont and 26 in Scarsdale were among the 16,000 semifinalists named by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) in the 62nd annual 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program. These high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth about $33 million that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. About 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and about half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title.

About 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2015 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest- scoring entrants in each state. The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state's percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

To become a finalist, the semifinalist and his or her high school must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the semifinalist's academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record through- out high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT® scores that confirm the student's earlier performance on the qualifying test.

From the approximately 16,000 semifinalists, about 15,000 are expected to advance
to the finalist level, and in February they will be notified of this designation. All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from this group of finalists. Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference.

Here are the names of the semifinalists from Edgemont and Scarsdale High Schools:

Edgemont High School:

Barnwal, Anshul
Brandfonbrener, James A.
Gupta, Nikita
Kim, Michelle
Lu, Alexander T.
Parsi, Pranav
Reyes Gomez, Federico J.
Saha, Mitul
Salsberg, Avery
Stern, Kasey
Wexler, Jocelyn H.

Scarsdale High School:

Arora, Srishti
Blatt, Louisa E.
Boxer, Miles
Brody, Tyler L.
Chang, Vincent
Clapp, Laura L.
Ewing, Zoe L.
Gao, Cindy D.
Gillespie, Claire M.
Kapner, Zachary
Kaspers, Thatcher A.
Kaufman, Caroline
Kelson, Caroline M.
Kourakos, Michael H.
Landau, Michael S.
Levin, Andrew M.
Li, Dexin
Ng, Julia E.
Rastogi, Keshav M.
Rothberg, Samantha
Singer, Lauren H.
Suzman, Chloe H.
Weinbaum, Seth P.
Yaseen, Grant D.
Zhang, Yunmo
Zipursky, Gillian