12 DHS Students Named National Merit Semifinalists

DEERFIELD, IL - Twelve Deerfield High School students and one from Rochelle Zell Jewish High School in Deerfield were named National Merit semifinalists by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation on Wednesday.

Nationally, the organization announced approximately 16,000 semifinalists on Wednesday, all of which will have an opportunity to become finalists and then compete for about 7,500 National Merit scholarships worth a total of about $33 million next spring.

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. The ones selected here represent less than 1 percent of high school juniors nationally.

Students selected from Deerfield High School were:

Lisa A. Cenek
Jake M. Chanan
Lindsay Guare
Caroline A. Hsu
Ryan D. Kenyon
Matthew S. Miller
Amy J. Muller
Jaclyn Ready
Nolan L. Sornson
Jonah Sugarman
Sophie E. Varon
Elias J. Weiskirch

Sarah R. Behn, a student at Rochelle Zell Jewish High School in Deerfield, was also named a semifinalist.

In order for the semi-finalists to become National Merit finalists, they must submit a detailed application with information on school achievements, grades, involvement with school clubs and activities and test scores.

About 15,000 of the 16,000 are expected to become finalists. The ones selected will be notified in February.