Hoboken High School Teen Named National Merit Semifinalist

HOBOKEN, NJ — Each September, high-achieving high school students across the country are chosen as semifinalists for a $2,000-per-year grant for college from the National Merit Scholarship Program.

The first round of choices is based solely on the students' PSAT scores from their junior year.

Next spring, the group will be narrowed based on their high school achievements and other factors.

The National Merit Scholarship Board released its new list of semifinalists on Tuesday, including dozens from New Jersey high schools.

The list of winners includes public schools (including regional magnet schools), private schools, and online school. Students all took the same PSATs to qualify.

Qualifying Score

This year's qualifying score in New Jersey was 225 and above. To get the score, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation doubles the reading and writing score, adds it to the math, and divides by 10.

Among the semifinalists were five students from Hudson County schools, including Hoboken High School.

Hoboken High Nominee

Carolina Fernandez is the semifinalist from Hoboken. According to school media channels, she participates in Harvard Model Congress, the tennis team, and other activities.

Last year, Hoboken High also had a nominee, Lucas Daly, who went on to attend Brown University.

The year before that, Madison Walia Peters was a semifinalist and won a scholarship. She is now a pre-med student at Harvard University.

Other Hudson County Semifinalists

The other semifinalists in Hudson County are:

Parth Khot

Jose Marti Stem Academy, Union City

Lehansa C. Marambage

How Many?

Nationally, 16,000 students were chosen as semifinalists. Of those, 511 were from New Jersey.

By spring 2027, the group will be narrowed down to finalists and then scholarship recipients.