Nine York High School Seniors Named National Merit Finalists

ELMHURST, IL — Nine York Community High School seniors named as National Merit Semifinalists this fall were recently confirmed as NMSC Finalists. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation program recently determined which of the 16,000 Semifinalists named in September of 2017 have met all requirements to advance to Finalist standing in the competition, the district said. York finalists are: Hannah Cronin, Matthew Dardick, Linnea Dierksheide, Courtney Jope, Carina Kanzler, Luke Rozmus, Anshul Shah, Katherine Tomaska and Christopher Ziebert.

“We are so incredibly proud of these students for their tenacious dedication to academia. They are being recognized for going above and beyond in an extraordinarily challenging selection process. I am thrilled for the students and the opportunities this will provide them moving forward," York High School Principal Erin DeLuga said in a release.

A Certificate of Merit from the NMSC was sent to each finalist’s home, and they were also honored by proclamation of the Elmhurst District 205 Board of Education at its April 10 meeting, the school said.

“We have so many great and talented young people in our schools, and I am proud of them all. These students have worked extremely hard and sacrificed a lot to earn this designation. No matter where their future leads, they will be Dukes forever and remembered with fondness and admiration,” Superintendent Dr. Dave Moyer, said in a release.

All NMSC Finalists will be considered for National Merit Scholarships to be offered in 2018. The selection of some 7,500 Merit Scholarship winners from the group of more than 15,000 Finalists is now in progress. Scholarship winners will be announced by NMSC in four groups from April through July.

So far, three York finalists, Linnea, Carina and Katherine, have been named as recipients of $2,500 National Merit Scholarships, the school said. Two York Finalists have been selected as corporate sponsored scholarship winners: Anshul by Alliance Data Systems and Ashley by CDK Global, LLC.

Photo provided by District 205.