National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists Announced

Twelve Ward Melville seniors have been named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists – twice as many as last year – the school district announced this week.

Those students are: Andrew Aicher, Daniel Hsu, Julia Huang, Stephen Karp, Allison La Rocco, Rocco Mora, Murali Varadaraj, Kelsey Weymouth-Little, Anna Whitney, Jesse Xing, Ariel Yang, and Jack Zhou.

“This is an incredible accomplishment, and a testament to your studies and your diligent commitment to education and your families, who brought you up to value education,” principal Dr. Alan Baum told the students.

Last year, were National Merit Scholarship semifinalists, and one of them, Robin Caselli, was a finalist.

The nationwide pool of semifinalists represents less than one percent of all U.S. high school seniors. Semifinalists are chosen based on their PSAT scores, a test taken during their junior year. These students will go on to compete for 83 National Merit scholarships, collectively worth more than $34 million.

To become finalists, semifinalists must have outstanding academic records throughout high school, be endorsed by the high school principal and earn SAT scores that confirm the student's earlier performance on the qualifying test, in addition to submitting an essay and information on leadership in school and community activities.

National Merit Scholarship winners will be announced in April. The program began in 1955 to honor the nation's scholastic champions and to encourage the pursuit of academic excellence.