Holmdel Students Named To National Honor Society

HOLMDEL, NJ — This past Monday, Oct. 1, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced its 2019 semifinalists and Holmdel High School students are included among them.

Holmdel High School seniors Annie Cao, Sameer Erramilli and David Wu were named semifinalists in this year’s program while fourteen other students earned recognition as commended students. They include: Brian Chu, Jason Feng, Alec Goldberg, Alice Huang, Justin Lautenberg, Jerome Li, Alec Licato, Gloria Liu, Jack Lowry, Jonathan Marty, Evan Smith, Alexander Tsai, Jonathan Wang and Julie Wang.

Approximately, 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2019 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2017 PSATs, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than one percent of all U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest scoring entrants in each state.

"It is always gratifying to have so many of our students recognized for their academic achievements," said Holmdel Superintendent, Dr. Robert McGarry. "It’s a testament to the excellence in teaching and learning for which our district is known."

The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state's percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

From the approximately 16,000 semifinalists, about 15,000 are expected to advance to the Finalist level, and in February 2019 they will be notified of this designation. All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from this group of Finalists. Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference.