16 Princeton Students Are 2023 National Merit Semifinalists

PRINCETON, NJ — Sixteen high school students from Princeton have been named semi-finalists for the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program.

The semi-finalists were announced on Wednesday, Sept. 13, and include around 16,000 high-school seniors who will go on to compete for the scholarships that will be offered next spring.

Here are the students from Princeton:

PRINCETON DAY SCHOOL

1. Mohammad F. Haque
2. Anagha Konakanchi
3. Evan Lin
4. Hannah H. Park
5. Kelly J. Wu

PRINCETON HIGH SCHOOL

1. Jieruei Chang
2. Anderson L. Chiang
3. Peter Eaton
4. Nicholas D. Hagedorn
5. Brian Z. Jiang
6. Heather Y. Li
7. Amanda Sun
8. Helen S. Tung
9. Thomas Zhang
10. Kyle Zhao

WILBERFORCE SCHOOL

1. Joshua Jen

According to a press release from the National Merit Scholarship Program, more than 90 percent of the semi-finalists will be named as finalists for the scholarship. Of those finalists, about half will win a scholarship.

More than 1.5 million students applied for the highly competitive scholarship and the semi-finalists represent less than 1 percent of all high-school seniors in the U.S. For each state, the number of semi-finalists is proportional to that state's percentage of the total graduating seniors in the country.

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.

National Merit Scholarship winners of 2024 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July.

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