5 Niles North Students Named National Merit Semifinalists

SKOKIE, IL - Five Niles North High School students 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 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 students nationally.

Students selected from Niles North were:

Cameron Benesch
Thao-Vien T. Bui
Jiedong Duan
Joshua G. Montgomery-Patt
Nathaniel L. Schetter

Osama B. Esmail, of Niles West High School, and Harrison G. Friedman, of Fasman Yeshiva High School, were also named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists from Skokie.

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.

Photo via Google Maps screenshot