More than 1.5 million juniors entered the 2014 National Merit Program by taking the 2013 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The designation is the first step toward becoming a National Merit Scholarship winner.
About 16,000 National Merit semifinalists throughout the nation were announced September 11.
School Districts 203 and 204 that serve Naperville and surrounding towns were well represented by 78 students.
Naperville Community Unit School District 203
Forty students were from Naperville CUSD 203 high schools were recognized as semifinalists. Naperville North also received one recognition in the National Achievement Scholarship program.
Naperville Central High School
National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists from Naperville Central High School are Ziwei Ba, Girishjumar Chandrasekar, Ashley Flakus, Philip Hinch, Rishi Kumar, Matthew Laboe, Jungsoo Lee, Weichen Ling, Rachel Liu, Christina Mardyla, Grace Orndorff, Cynthia Plant, Mark Sweeney, and Emily Zhen.
Naperville North High School
National Merit Semifinalists from Naperville North High School are Samuel Bussan, David Chen, Vivian Chen, Kimberly Dauber, Lillianne Dunk, Elizabeth Hamlink, Aseem Jha, Beatrice Jin, Julie Lang, Nathan Lindquist, George Lowery, Bradley Ng, Grace Ng, Anushka Rau, Arpon Rau, Ashrita Rau, Thomas Rotter, Christopher Serpico, Kevin Suh, Alan Tang, Sebastian Wagner-Carena, Larry Wang, Xiaoqi Wang, Helen Wei, Kristiana Yao, and Charles Zega.
Established in 1964, the National Achievement Scholarship Program is an academic competition to provide recognition for outstanding Black American high school students. Naperville North’s Zachary Adcock is one of only 1,600 students named a Semifinalist, the only students who have an opportunity to advance in the competition for National Achievement Scholarships.
Indian Prairie School District 204
Thirty-eight students from District 204 were named Semifinalists in the 2014 National Merit Scholarship Program. The designation, based on scores in each state on the PSAT exam, is the first step toward becoming a National Merit Scholarship winner.
Metea Valley High School
National Merit Semifinalists from Metea Valley High School are Brooke Eber, Tanya Gupta, Hye Eun Kim, Priyali Saxena, Indorica Sutradhar, and Austin Yu.
Neuqua Valley High School
National Merit Semifinalists from Neuqua Valley High School are Lillian Brister, Akhil Chavan, Peter Chen, Joyce Chung, Roland Dewgard, Katherine Guo, Evelyn Hayhurst, James He, Saumya Jain, Tyler Kory, Naveen Kumar, Felix Li, Alyssa Liu, Charles Lu, Ruiwen Luo, Anna Marie Mathew, Meghna Nagam, Abhishek Nigam, Rhea Ninan, Tyler Patterson, Jaya Prakash, Nihar Sheth, William Song, Kathryn Speckels, Avery Stephenson, and Riley Wagner.
Waubonsie Valley High School
National Merit Semifinalists from Waubonsie Valley High School are Nicholas Brunelle, Trent Calderone, Adilene Esquinca, Kushal Herur, Anthony Itambo, and Robert Nelson.
The next step
To become a finalist in the scholarship programs, the semifinalists and their high school must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about academic records, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received.
The academically talented high school seniors represent less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors. Semifinalists have the opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,000 National Merit Scholarships worth about $35 million that will be awarded next spring.
For more information about the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, visit http://www.nationalmerit.org/.
