Westhampton Beach Student Named National Merit Semifinalist

WESTHAMPTON BEACH, NY — A Westhampton Beach High School student has been named a semi-finalist in the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program.

Gavin W. Ehlers was given the nod, named as a semi-finalist.

The semi-finalists were announced on Wednesday and include 16,000 high-school seniors who will go on to compete for the scholarships that will be offered next spring. According to a press release from the National Merit Scholarship Program, about 95 percent of the semi-finalists will be named as finalists in the 67th year of the academic competition.

Of those, about half will win a scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.

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.

High school juniors entered the 2022 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the2020 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state.

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

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, and the honors and awards they've earned.

Students will find out in February whether they make it to the finalist stage. Every finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit $2,500 scholarships on a state-representational basis.

Also, about 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be provided by 220 corporations and business organizations, and about 180 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 4,000 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards

The scholarship winners will be announced beginning in April 2022.