North Shore students named Merit Scholarship semifinalists

Robert Pelaez
Great Neck headlined all local school districts with 16 scholarship semifinalists. (Photo courtesy of Great Neck School District)

Fifty-nine students from the North Shore have been named semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program. 

They were among roughly 16,000 chosen nationwide based on scores on the preliminary SAT, according to the program’s website.

In the Great Neck school district, 16 students were selected as semifinalists.  Those from Great Neck South High School were Yian Dong, Julia D. Duval, Ali I. Fazal, Austin Z. George, Elizabeth Grosul, Talia Katz, Christina Liu, Timothy C. Liu, Gabriel D. Magdison, Shourav B. Saha, Joelle Siong Sin and Keena Yin.

Isabella Dayani is the lone representative from the Village School, while Raymond J. Lin, Arielle Mueller and Daniel Q. Zeng were chosen from Great Neck North High School.

“We are very proud to have sixteen seniors recognized as Semifinalists through the National Merit Scholarship Program,” said Great Neck School Superintendent Teresa Prendergast. “It’s a wonderful honor for our students and their families. On behalf of the Great Neck Board of Education and all district staff, I’d like to congratulate our Semifinalists and wish them continued success as they move on to the next round of this prestigious program.”

From Manhasset High School, Amanda Cao, Catherine M. Furlong, Sydney R. Ginsburg, Matthew Kiley, Jiacheng Li, Justin C. Liu, Sofia A. Matos, Dohyeon Park, Oliver L. Reinhardt, Ella R. Wesson, Elizabeth E. Wu and Serena Zhao were the 12 semifinalists. 

The Herricks school district had nine semifinalists. They were Nicole Y. Chen, Jenna Chin, Gloria H. Kang, Rohan Khanderia, Christopher Lum, Daniel Min, Michael A. Paciullo, Shreya S. Patel and Rahul Singhal.

Paul D. Schreiber High School in Port Washington had seven semifinalists. They were Harrison S. Fried, Tiffany Guo, Maddison Chiara, Jeannie D. Ren, Maansi Shroff, Noah Sollinger and Kyle Wong. 

Roslyn High School seniors Zoe P. Farber, Joshua A. Flashner, Daniel I. Flyer, Daleep S. Grewal, Catherine Tom and Kyle Yoon made up the Roslyn district’s six semifinalists. 

The East Williston school district had five semifinalists: Karen H. Li, Madison A. Ramos, Trenton J. Wong, Alia I. Yamin and Sharon Zhong from the Wheatley School. 

Chaminade High School had three semifinalists: Connor J. Brandvold, Luke G. Russo and
Peter Townley.

Megha Gopal was the sole semifinalist from New Hyde Park Memorial High School. 

According to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, “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.”

From the approximate 16,000 semifinalists, 15,000 will be selected as finalists, with 7,600 being declared winners, splitting over $31 million in collegiate scholarships, according to the program’s website.  The finalists will be announced by the program in February 2020, with the winners being declared starting in April and going through until July.

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