23 Shaker Seniors Named National Merit Semifinalists, Scholars

SHAKER HEIGHTS, OH — Shaker Heights High School announced that 23 seniors have been named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists or Commended Students. Less than 1 percent of high school seniors earn Semifinalist status.

Last year, only nine Shaker Heights High students were named National Merit Semifinalists. Students that earn that designation will have the chance to compete for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships, worth more than $34 million.

National Merit Semifinalist designations are given to only 16,000 students across the country. Every student that took the PSAT is automatically entered into the competition, meaning the pool of competitors is more than 1 million students.

This year's National Merit Semifinalists, from Shaker, are:

• Justin Bai,
• Elizabeth Brown,
• Emet Celeste-Cohen,
• Henry Crampton-Hays,
• Fenner Dreyfuss-Wells,
• Lia Gomez-Perez,
• Erenalp Kahriman,
• Isabel Levin,
• Kaitlin Nordstrom,
• Leo Schirokauer,
• Joshua Silver and
• Eli Soto-Schwartz.

• Nikhila Balasubramaniam,
• Melis Baltan-Brunet,
• Hannah Braun,
• Connor Covert,
• Audrey Himes,
• Olivia La Rue,
• Jacob Lehner,
• Charlotte Lo,
• Daniel Szoke,
• Rachel Weisman and
• Lyle Yost.

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Photo from Google Earth