31 Long Island Students Named National Merit Winners For 2020

LONG ISLAND, NY — Thirty-one Long Island students are among 2,500 nationwide who were named National Merit $2,500 Scholarship winners for 2020. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced the full list of scholars on Wednesday, who were chosen from a talent pool of more than 15,000 finalists in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program.

The finalists in each state are judged based on the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies. The number of winners named in each state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the nation’s graduating high school seniors.

The Long Island students who received this honor include:

• Shreya S. Patel, Herricks High School in New Hyde Park
• Nina R. Cialone, Locust Valley High School in Locust Valley
• David G. Frank, John F. Kennedy High School in Bellmore
• Michael V. Parrinello, Commack High School in Commack
• Louis B. Viglietta, Commack High School in Commack
• Jay Nagpal, Half Hollow Hills High School East in Dix Hills
• William Hong Sun, Ward Melville High School in East Setauket
• Celina Ma, Kings Park High School in Kings Park
• James Zheng, Garden City High School in Garden City
• Nicole Khaimov, Glen Cove High School in Glen Cove
• Raymond J. Lin, John L. Miller North High School in Great Neck
• Gabriel D. Magidson, Great Neck High School South in Great Neck
• Alex Tang, George W. Hewlett High School in Hewlett
• Shreya Suneja, Half Hollow Hills High School East in Dix Hills
• Emily Gan, Jericho High School in Jericho
• Michelle A. Hsu, Locust Valley High School in Locust Valley
• Arjun Gupta, Long Beach High School in Lido Beach
• Sydney R. Ginsburg, Manhasset High School in Manhasset
• Oliver L. Reinhardt, Manhasset High School in Manhasset
• Elizabeth E. Wu, Manhasset High School in Manhasset
• Serena Zhao, Manhasset High School in Manhasset
• Michael J. Pecorara, Jericho High School in Jericho
• Michael C. DiSpirito, Locust Valley High School in Locust Valley
• Ziho Kim, Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School in Plainview
• Daniel I. Flyer, Roslyn High School in Roslyn Heights
• Kyra McCreery, North Shore High School in Glen Head
• Sophie R. Epstein, Hauppauge High School in Hauppauge
• Robert W. Yu, Jericho High School in Jericho
• Uriel M. Sussman, Ramban Mesivta High School in Lawrence
• Athena Yao, Wantagh High School in Wantagh
• Jacqueline R. Albert, Syosset High School in Syosset

These scholars were selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors. The group compared information submitted by both the finalists and their high schools including: the academic record, including difficulty level of subjects studied and grades earned; scores from the PSAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test; contributions and leadership in school and community activities; an essay written by the finalist; and a recommendation written by a high school official.

This year’s National Merit Scholarship Program began in October 2018 when over 1.5 million juniors in 21,000 high schools took the PSAT/NMSQT, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Last fall, the highest-scoring participants in each state, representing less than one percent of the nation’s high school seniors, were named semifinalists on a state-representational basis. Only these 16,000 semifinalists had an opportunity to continue in the competition.

After that, a total of 15,000 students met the very high academic standards and other requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition. By the end of 2020, about 7,600 Finalists will have earned the “Merit Scholar” title and received a total of over $30 million in college scholarships.