WINNETKA – Twenty-six New Trier High School students have been named as semifinalists in the prestigious National Merit Scholarship Program competition.
Of about 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools across the country who entered the 2017 program by taking the 2015 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), only approximately 16,000 earned the Semifinalist designation, representing less than 1 percent of all U.S. high school seniors. These students will have the opportunity to continue in the competition for 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth about $33 million.
To become a Finalist, a Semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout 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. Approximately 15,000 Semifinalists are expected to advance to the Finalist level, and Merit Scholar designees will be selected based on their skills, accomplishments and potential for success in rigorous college studies.
New Trier’s 2017 National Merit Semifinalists are:
Celia Buckman; Elizabeth Callis; Carlyn Chrabaszcz; Mae Cody; Sophie Coppieters ‘t Wallant; Daniel Dodinval; Helen Fagan; Nikolai Gjaja; Charles Hansell; Gabriel Isaacson; Jakob Kaminsky; Ishaani Khatri; Steven Kochvar; Maxwell Minogue; Sara Nicholas; Kate Pearce; Daniel Pickard; Alexander Puce; Benjamin Schwabe; Katie Shia; Allison Smith; Aria Snedegar; Connor Warshauer; William Webb; Jason Yang; and Kristy Zeng.
More information on the National Merit Scholarship Program is available through the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, www.nationalmerit.org.