Nine Herricks High School seniors have been named National Merit Semifinalists in the 65th annual National Merit Scholarship Program, as announced on Sept. 11. Congratulations to Nicole Chen, Jenna Chin, Gloria Kang, Rohan Khanderia, Christopher Lum, Daniel Min, Michael Paciullo, Shreya Patel and Rahul Singhal for earning this outstanding accomplishment.
These students are among approximately 16,000 semifinalists selected nationally from an estimated 1.6 million who entered the academic competition upon taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test as juniors. Semifinalists represent the top 1 percent of United States high school seniors and highest-scoring entrants from each state.
The Herricks semifinalists are all high achieving students who are involved in their school and community. Nicole is an AP scholar and serves as co-president of the Rube Goldberg Club and treasurer of the Opus Literature Club. Jenna is a member of the swim team and serves as secretary of the Woman Warriors Club, while Gloria is vice president of the Tri-M Music Honor Society as well as a winter track team participant. Rohan is a National Honor Society member, is part of the website team for robotics and served as concertmaster of the symphony band last year. Chris is in the National Honor Society and additionally serves as co-president of the STEM Club, while Daniel is an AP Scholar and qualified for the New York State Chemistry Olympiad. Michael is a NYSSMA award-winning composer and president of the jazz band, as well as a science research student who interned at Columbia University. Shreya is an AP Scholar, vice president of Amnesty International and member of the Herricks Helping Hands board. Rahul is a National Honor Society Member, the finance chair of Model Congress and co-captain of Mathletes.
They are now eligible to fulfill several requirements, including the completion of a detailed application that would potentially advance them to finalist status.
Submitted by the Herricks School District
