38 New Trier Students Named National Merit Semifinalists

Submitted by New Trier High School

Thirty-eight New Trier High School students have been named as Semifinalists in the prestigious National Merit Scholarship Program competition.

Of about 1.5 million juniors across the country who entered the 2016 program by taking the 2014 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), only approximately 16,000 earned the Semifinalist designation, representing less than 1 percent of all U.S. high school seniors. These students will have the opportunity to continue in the competition for 7,400 National Merit Scholarships worth about $32 million.

To become a Finalist, a Semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay and earn SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test. Approximately 15,000 Semifinalists are expected to advance to the Finalist level, and Merit Scholar designees will be selected based on their skills, accomplishments and potential for success in rigorous college studies.

New Trier’s 2016 National Merit Semifinalists are:

Hajera Afreen; Jonathon Alcantara; Robert Angarone; Jason Bilas; Owen Cahill; Henry Clabby; Bethany David; Erica Diaz; Rani Duff; Marcus Duquette; Jiangao Fang; Lucas Hess; Emma Hine; Katherine Ho; Emily Kim; Dimitri Kondelis; Jarod Meyer; Gavin Mischler; John Murphy; Samantha Nell; Lauren Newmark; Liam O’Donovan; Samuel Pavlekovsky; Emery Perl; Sean Pietrowicz; Madison Ramsey; Julie Rissman; Emma Robitaille; Lindsey Ruda; Emma Schragel; Zachary Schreier; Eric Stinehart; Zachary Struckman; Caroline Tilley; Oliver Tsang; Mahir Wagh; Emma Willcocks; and Zihan Xiong.