New Trier Area Students Named Among National Merit Semifinalists

WINNETKA, IL — The National Merit Scholarship Corporation Wednesday named 48 students from three high schools in New Trier Township as 2020 National Merit semifinalists. The semifinalists — including seniors from New Trier High School, Loyola Academy and North Shore Country Day School — are among approximately 16,000 high-school seniors set to compete for fewer than 7,000 scholarships of up to several thousand dollars due to be awarded next spring.

Over 90 percent of the semifinalists will be named as finalists for the scholarship, according to a release from the Evanston-based National Merit Scholarship Program. Of those 15,000 finalists, about half will win a scholarship.

More than 1.5 million students applied for the highly competitive scholarship by taking the 2018 preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualification Test, which provides an initial screen of entrants.

The semifinalists represent less than 1 percent of all high school seniors in the U.S. For each state, the number of semifinalists is proportional to that state’s percentage of the total graduating seniors in the country.

National Merit named 35 New Trier High School students from the class of 2020 as National Merit Scholarships, up from 31 last year:

• Anna J. Arthur
• Pearce N. Bailey
• Ayah H. Bajwa
• Mira S. Becker
• Maggie Cao
• Patrick G. Condon
• Nadharm Dhiantravan
• Phillip G. Ellison
• Elizabeth H. Fisher
• Jacob H. Furfine
• Colin Glew
• Kathryn E. Hemmer
• Tinah L. Hong
• Taylor A. Jones
• Lydia A. Kaup
• Andrew O. Kearney
• Maia C. Law
• Margaret K. Lin
• Erin A. McNally
• Alexander B. Nagel
• Aryoman M. Patel
• Kathryn L. Pickens
• Emilie R. Rivkin
• Jane L. Rosin
• Talia M. Schacht
• Alina P. Scholz
• Finja A. Scholz
• Thomas F. Serrino
• Karthik Srinivasan
• Shivam S. Tailor
• Markus S. Tam
• Jacob C. Wachtel
• Keyler R. White
• Jesse Yang
• Jason Yuan

Eleven students from Loyola Academy were named semifinalists:

• Leo J. Brett
• Kevin F. Considine
• Robert P. Hess
• James D. Manzer
• Jonathan D. Merchan
• Sophie I. Molins
• John P. Nugent
• Claire C. O'Shaughnessy
• Jenna T. Rekoske
• Martin D. Susanto
• Marie C. Tagliavia

Two North Shore Country Day School students were named semifinalists:

• Emily Cho
• Isabella B. Cho

To become a finalist, the program explains that students and a high school official must submit a detailed application. The application must contain information about a student’s academic record, leadership abilities, the honors and awards they’ve received and more.

Students will find out in February whether they make it to the finalist stage. The scholarship winners will be announced beginning in April 2020.

Earlier:

• 31 New Trier Students Named National Merit Semifinalists
• New Trier, NSCDS Students Win National Merit Cash Scholarships
• 5 New Trier Students Awarded Corporate-Sponsored National Merit Scholarships
• Three Wilmette Students Win National Merit Scholarships
• 5 New Trier Students Awarded College-Sponsored Merit Scholarships

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