30 New Trier Area Seniors Named National Merit Semifinalists

WINNETKA, IL — More than two dozen high school seniors at schools in New Trier Township were named semifinalists for 2022 National Merit scholarships.

They included three students from North Shore Country Day School, six from Loyola Academy and 21 from New Trier High School.

The local students are among 16,000 semifinalists nationwide who qualified by achieving one of the state's highest scores on the 2020 Preliminary SAT, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced Wednesday.

To make it to the finalist round in February, the students must submit an application with a recommendation from an official at their high school.

About 7,500 scholarships worth nearly $30 million will be awarded to finalists before the end of July 2022, according to the scholarship corporation, an Evanston-based nonprofit founded in 1955 to run the program.

Those merit scholarships include about 4,000 sponsored by colleges and universities, 2,500 sponsored by the nonprofits own funds and about 1,000 provided by corporations and business organizations.

Here are the semifinalists for National Merit Scholarships from the class of 2022 at New Trier Township schools, in alphabetical order.

• Madeleine N. Arend, New Trier High School
• Timofei D. Asinski, New Trier High School
• Morgan C. Baskfield, Loyola Academy
• Sarah A. Bewley, New Trier High School
• Yinghui Bimali, New Trier High School
• Aruni Chenxi, New Trier High School
• Nika Chuzhoy, New Trier High School
• Timothy Dale, New Trier High School
• Stefan M. Gjaja, New Trier High School
• Matthew J. Griesmeyer, Loyola Academy
• Mark Gabriel C. Gonzalez, Loyola Academy
• Isabel C. Hernandez, New Trier High School
• Peyton E. Hudson, North Shore Country Day School
• Patrick A. Jamieson, New Trier High School
• Connor F. Lane, New Trier High School
• Taeyoung Lee, New Trier High School
• Bennett A. Lindberg, New Trier High School
• Abigail E. Miller, New Trier High School
• William B. Nelson, New Trier High School
• John P. Phillips, Loyola Academy
• Amanda M. Rajkovich, Loyola Academy
• Peter D. Scheidt, Loyola Academy
• Luke C. Schuette, New Trier High School
• Beccan W. Simon, New Trier High School
• James V. Slone, New Trier High School
• Aidia M. Steen, New Trier High School
• Bren Warshauer, New Trier High School
• Ryan R. Wu, New Trier High School
• Andrew J. Xing, North Shore Country Day School
• Emily H. Yoo, North Shore Country Day School

Last year, there were 32 New Trier High School students and one each from Christian Heritage Academy, Loyola Academy, North Shore Country Day School named semifinalists from the class of 2021. Six were subsequently awarded scholarships.

Students will find out in February whether they make it to the finalist stage. The scholarship winners will be announced beginning in April.

Update: New Trier High School Student Awarded National Merit Scholarship

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