Two Andover High students are among the thousands nationwide in the running for National Merit Scholarships, having been named semifinalists.
Andover High School students Evan Doyle and Stan Huang have been named semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship Corporation’s 58th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Also selected were Phillips Academy students Sahil Bhaiwala, Jeremy Chen, Connie Cheng, Tyler Devlin, Emily Field, Virginia Fu, Michael Garai, James Garth, Samuel Khalandovsky, Skanda Koppula, Anjali Krishnamachar, Darlina Liu, Nickhil Nabar, Annika Neklason, Patrick Niedzielski, Chien Hong Png, Jing Qu, Lillian Scherlis, Katherine Shih, Jennifer Sluka, Nathaniel Smith, Dakyung Song, Mackenzie Strabala, Gregory Wang, Justin Wang, Rachel Wittenberg and Gregory Young.
These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,300 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million that will be offered next spring.
To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition.
About 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and more than half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.
To become a finalist, the semifinalist and their high school 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, 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 scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.
