National Merit Scholarships: See Philadelphia Semifinalists

PHILADELPHIA — Numerous Philadelphia high school students have been named semifinalists in the 2023 National Merit Scholarship program.

These students are among 16,000 semifinalists in the 68th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

The seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,250 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28 million that will be offered next spring.

Below are local semifinalists:

Central High School

• Leon Hua
• Ivan Zheng

Friends Select School

• Charlie Chen

Germantown Friends School

• Aidan E. Cusack
• Christina Groeneveld
• Isabella L. Shay
• Jiasheng Shi

High School of Creative and Performing Arts

• Jesse Simonet

Julia R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School

• Calder Burke
• Denny Cao
• Ethan Dong
• Noah Eggerts
• Kelvin Lei
• Daniel Li
• Michelle Lin
• Maya Lindsey
• Sadie Margolin
• Conner Meidt
• Luke Neale
• Lucianna Ngo
• Efthimios Panagoplos
• Neel Pandula
• Michael Samuel
• Kethan Shirodkar
• Luiza Sulea
• Evan Trinh
• Christopher Yuen

Nazareth Academy High School

• Sophia L. Diprimeo

William Penn Charter School

• Jack E. Frank

Springside Chestnut Hill Academy

• Shangchen Cai
• Daniel O'Connor
• Qimou Song

St. Joseph's Preparatory School

• Liam J. Holden
• Connor P. O'Brien
• Benjamin A. Vacha

To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition.

About 95 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and approximately
half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.

To become a finalist, the semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed
scholarship application, in which they provide information about the semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received.

A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 340 business organizations and higher education institutions that share the goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.