14 Westport Students Named Merit Scholarship Semifinalists

WESTPORT, CT — A total of 14 students from Pierrepont School and Staples High School have been named National Merit Scholarship Corporation Semifinalists, giving them the opportunity to compete for some 7,140 National Merit Scholarships, which combined are worth nearly $28 million.

The Westport students are:

Pierrepont School

• Ian Chow
• Luyao Guo
• Dimitrios Zhao

Staples High School

• Emerson Briggs
• Leigh Foran
• Dania Hemdan
• Peter Loranger
• Ellen Ou
• Surya Rao
• Jameson Russell
• Ella Tobben
• Elizabeth Turner
• Darren Weng
• Gabriel Weng

All 14 students are among more than 16,000 students in the United States to receive semifinalist status; the final awards will be distributed in the spring.

Of the Staples students, Principal Stafford W. Thomas, Jr., JD, praised the achievements of these students.

"It is an extraordinary honor for these students to be recognized for their academic abilities, and an honor for our school because each of these students demonstrate talents and passions beyond academics every day, making them wonderful representatives of the Westport Public Schools," Thomas said.

"To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, Semifi nalists must fulfi ll several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition," the corporate officials said in a statement. "About 95 percent of the Semifi nalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and approximately half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title."

More than 1.3 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2022 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.

Additionally, to become a Finalist, the Semifinalist and a high school official 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
• Honors and awards received

A Semifinalist also must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, receive an endorsement and recommendation from a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT® or ACT® scores "that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test."

The three types of scholarships that will be awarded in the spring are:

• 2,500 National Merit® $2500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state-representational basis
• About 840 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be provided by approximately 160 corporations and business organizations for Finalists who meet their specified criteria, such as children of the grantor’s employees or residents of communities where sponsor plants or offices are located

• About 160 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 3,800 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who will attend the sponsor institution

Note: The National Merit Scholarship Corporation lists the community where a school is located; a student's hometown is not listed.