WINNETKA – Thirty-five New Trier High School students have been named as Semifinalists in the prestigious National Merit Scholarship competition.
Of about 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools across the country who entered the 2018 program by taking the 2016 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), only approximately 16,000 earned the Semifinalist designation. This nationwide pool of Semifinalists represents less than 1 percent of all U.S. high school seniors and includes the highest scoring entrants of the state, who will have the opportunity to continue in the competition for 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 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. The Semifinalist’s participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received must also be submitted.
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 High School’s 2018 National Merit Semifinalists (not pictured: Jack Cable and Elliot Chow).
New Trier’s 2018 National Merit Semifinalists are: Yamenah Ambreen; Tony Bayvas; Jack Cable; Lily Carley; Daniel Chang; Linda Chiu; Elliot Chow; Benjamin Citow; John Crawford; Zachary Crispino; Silpian Dhiantravan; Tori Edington; Andrew Feng; Coleman Horvath; Nicholas Jarmusz; Elliot Jung-Beeman; Rebecca Lee; Katherine Macakanja; Jordan Meyer; Rebecca Miller; Ilana Nazari; Liam Oh; Thomas Okun; Jason Paul; Dillan Prasad; Meagan Rittmanic; Amia Ross; Matthew Roth; Allison Salmon; Marie Sowlat; Simone Wall; Vivian Wu; Hannah Xu; Jisu Yang; and Natalie Ye.
More information on the National Merit Scholarship Program is available through the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, www.nationalmerit.org.
Submitted by New Trier Township High School