Five Roslyn High School seniors—Ryan Chou, Julia Diamond, Grace Peng, Lindsey Russ, and Ethan Wachsman—have been named Semifinalists in the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Competition.
“We are proud to recognize this wonderful academic achievement by our five scholastically talented seniors,” said Principal Scott Andrews. “Congratulations to all!”
Over 1.5 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2019 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state.
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, and write an essay.
From the approximately 16,000 Semifinalists, about 15,000 are expected to advance to the Finalist level, and in February they will be notified of this designation. All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from this group of Finalists. Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference.
“While this is a wonderful recognition, what’s most impressive are each of these student’s individual academic and extracurricular accomplishments while attaining impressive standardized testing results,” said Director of Guidance Greg Wasserman.
