27 In Hudson Valley Win National Merit Scholarships From Colleges

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation has announced more than 3,500 winners of National Merit Scholarships financed by U.S. colleges and universities, including 27 from the Hudson Valley.

Wednesday's announcement is the third group of winners to be announced this year. In April, more than 1,000 recipients of the corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship were named including 11 from the Hudson Valley. In May, winners of the 2019 National Merit $2,500 Scholarship were named.

Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among the Finalists
in the 2019 National Merit Scholarship Program who plan to attend their institution. These
awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study
at the institution financing the scholarship.

An additional group will be announced in July, the fourth announcement of the year, bringing the total number of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship recipients in the 2019 competition to about 4,100.

By the conclusion of this year’s competition, about 7,600 academic champions will have won National Merit Scholarships worth more than $31 million.

Here are the local winners in this round:

• Tristan B. Dacunha, FOX LANE H. S., BEDFORD - NATIONAL MERIT FORDHAM UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Cristina Kobierowski, CARMEL H. S., CARMEL - NATIONAL MERIT UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS SCHOLARSHIP
• Kevin Liu, HORACE GREELEY H. S., CHAPPAQUA - NATIONAL MERIT CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Konrad Koenigsmann of Congers, THE MASTERS SCHOOL, DOBBS FERRY - NATIONAL MERIT UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SCHOLARSHIP
• William S. Wohlers of Cortlandt, HENDRICK HUDSON H. S., MONTROSE - NATIONAL MERIT NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Zachar D. Hankewycz, DOBBS FERRY H. S., DOBBS FERRY - NATIONAL MERIT NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Remy O. Nammour, DOBBS FERRY H. S., DOBBS FERRY - NATIONAL MERIT NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Shu-nan Justin Chang of Goldens Bridge, JOHN JAY H. S., CROSS RIVER - NATIONAL MERIT UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SCHOLARSHIP
• Jialin Yang of Larchmont, RYE COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL, RYE - NATIONAL MERIT UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SCHOLARSHIP
• Ethan M. Holand of Montebello, SUFFERN H. S., SUFFERN - NATIONAL MERIT NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Geonho Seo, NANUET H. S., NANUET - NATIONAL MERIT NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Mark Albrecht, CLARKSTOWN H. S. NORTH, NEW CITY - NATIONAL MERIT NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Rivindu A. Wijedoru, CLARKSTOWN H. S. SOUTH, WEST NYACK - NATIONAL MERIT NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Luke Deen Taylor, NEW PALTZ CENTRAL H. S., NEW PALTZ - NATIONAL MERIT TUFTS UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Edward W. Jones, NEW ROCHELLE H. S., NEW ROCHELLE - NATIONAL MERIT BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Ethan Mayblum of New Rochelle, SOLOMON SCHECHTER SCHOOL OF WESTCHESTER - NATIONAL MERIT EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Samuel Z. Abers, NYACK H. S., NYACK - NATIONAL MERIT UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SCHOLARSHIP
• Emma J. Montgomery, OSSINING H. S., OSSINING - NATIONAL MERIT UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SCHOLARSHIP
• Emily S. Prophet of Patterson, CARMEL H. S., CARMEL - NATIONAL MERIT UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS SCHOLARSHIP
• Rachel R. Brewer, PELHAM MEMORIAL H. S., PELHAM - NATIONAL MERIT VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Andrew G. Skrzypczak, PLEASANTVILLE H. S., PLEASANTVILLE - NATIONAL MERIT TUFTS UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Nicholas S. Urbin, RED HOOK CENTRAL H. S., RED HOOK - NATIONAL MERIT FORDHAM UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Katherine J. Langer, RYE H. S., RYE - NATIONAL MERIT VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Ananya Gupta, EDGEMONT H. S., SCARSDALE - NATIONAL MERIT NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Julianna J. Schalkwyk, EDGEMONT H. S., SCARSDALE - NATIONAL MERIT HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP
• Joseph B. Tropper of Scarsdale, SAR H. S., RIVERDALE - NATIONAL MERIT UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SCHOLARSHIP
• Zongbo Zhang, SCARSDALE H. S., SCARSDALE - NATIONAL MERIT CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP

This year, 173 higher education institutions are underwriting Merit Scholarship awards through the National Merit Scholarship Program. Sponsor colleges and universities include 95 private and 78 public institutions located in 43 states and the District of Columbia.

NMSC named recipients of corporate-sponsored awards on April 17 and winners of National Merit® $2500 Scholarships on May 8. Additional recipients of college-sponsored awards will be announced on July 15.

College-sponsored Merit Scholarship winners announced today are a part of the
distinguished group of about 7,600 high school seniors who will receive National Merit
Scholarships for college undergraduate study worth over $31 million. Earlier this spring,
NMSC announced winners of corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards and National Merit
$2500 Scholarships.

Over 1.6 million juniors in about 22,000 high schools entered the 2019
National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2017 Preliminary SAT/National Merit
Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program
entrants. Last fall, approximately 16,000 Semifi nalists were named on a state-representational
basis in numbers proportional to each state’s percentage of the national total of graduating
high school seniors. Semifinalists were the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and
represented less than one percent of the nation’s seniors.

To compete for Merit Scholarship awards, Semifinalists first had to advance to the
Finalist level of the competition by fulfilling additional requirements. Each Semifinalist was asked to submit a detailed scholarship application, which included writing an essay and providing information about extracurricular activities, awards, and leadership positions. Semifinalists also had to have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and earn SAT® scores that confirmed the qualifying test performance. From the Semifinalist group, some 15,000 met requirements for Finalist standing, and about half of the Finalists will be Merit Scholarship winners in 2019.