Nine UCS students among top one percent of the nation’s seniors

Nine Utica Community Schools students are among only 16,000 U.S. seniors to be named 2020 National Merit semifinalists.

UCS National Merit Semi-finalists are: Armando Gjergji, Riley Klumb and Kirthika Krishnan, of Stevenson High School; Aaryan Patel and Aayush Patel, of Henry Ford II High School; Leo Barrios and Olivia Stack, of Eisenhower High School; and Julie ElFishawy and Nisha Patel, of the Utica Academy for International Studies.

Stack, Aaryan Patel, Gjergji and Krishnan also attend the Utica Center for Mathematics, Science and Technology. Klumb attends the Utica Center for Science and Industry.

National Merit Semi-finalists are among the top one percent of the nation’s high school seniors.

“This year’s National Merit Semifinalists reflect the high expectations that our entire school community has for its students,” Superintendent Dr. Christine Johns said. “These seniors placed among the nation’s top students by demonstrating many of the core values of this school district – persistence, hard work and effective effort.”

More than 1.6 million students of the Class of 2020 entered the National Merit Program by taking the 2017 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The nationwide pool of semi-finalists includes the highest scoring entrants in each state.

To move from semi-finalist to finalist status, students must submit a detailed scholarship application. The application includes information about their academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership, an essay, record of consistently high academic performance, a recommendation by an official of their high school, and SAT scores that confirm their PSAT/NMSQT performance.

Finalists have an opportunity to continue in the competition for 7,600 National Merit Scholarships totaling $31 million next spring.

Source: Utica Community Schools

Dr. Christine Johns, Superintendent of Schools

Http://www.uticak12.org