4 Agourans Named National Merit Semifinalists

AGOURA HILLS, CA — As usual, Agourans are making the grade. On Sept. 9, the National Merit Scholarship announced that four local students have qualified as semifinalists for the 2021 award.

The semifinalists are Rachel C. Fox, Ethan Goldenberg, and Daniel Nathan of Agoura High School, and Kate Powledge, who lives in Agoura Hills but attends Louisville High School in Woodland Hills.

The four seniors join 16,000 others around the country who scored well enough on the 2019 Preliminary SAT Exams to qualify for finalist status. According to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, the semifinalists represent less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors.

To advance to finalist status, applicants must provide detailed information about their grades and extracurricular activities, write an essay, and be recommended and endorsed by an employee at their school. 15,000 of the semifinalists are expected to advance to finalist status, according to the NMSC.

Finalists will then compete for the 2,500 scholarships, which are worth $2,500 each. 2021 winners will be named in four separate announcements from next April to July.

"I am so proud of their dedication and hard work!" wrote Las Virgenes Superintendent Dan Stepenosky in an email. "Congrats to their families, teachers, staff, and principals that supported them along the way. Go Coyotes and go Chargers!"