Garden City Student Named National Merit Scholar

Garden City NY

03 June, 2020

3:30 PM

Description

GARDEN CITY, NY — A Garden City High School student was one of 26 Long Islanders who are among 3,300 second round winners of the National Merit Scholarships for 2020. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced the list of scholars on Wednesday. The finalists in the second round will receive $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship. An additional group of scholars will be announced in July, bringing the total number of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship recipients in the 2020 competition to about 4,100. The merit scholarship winners announced this week were among a group of about 7,600 high school seniors who will receive National Merit Scholarships for college undergraduate study worth over $30 million. Earlier this spring, 31 Long Island students were named winners of corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards and National Merit $2500 Scholarships.The Long Island students who received this honor include: Paul Bartolemea, of Baldwin, Kellenberg Memorial High SchoolEirini Drosos, of Bethpage, Bethpage High SchoolNatalie F. Walsh, of Centereach, Centereach High SchoolPaige S. Robinson, of Commack, Commack High SchoolJake T. Butkevich, of East Setauket, Ward Melville High SchoolBenjamin A. Templeton, of East Setauket, Ward Melville High SchoolKayla Quinn, of Garden City, Garden City High SchoolTessie Dong, of Great Neck, Great Neck South High SchoolTalia Katz, of Great Neck, Great Neck South High SchoolChristina Liu, of Great Neck, Great Neck South High SchoolKeena Yin, of Great Neck, Great Neck South High SchoolJack I. Hoffman, of Hewlett, George W. Hewlett High SchoolSarah Choi, of Hicksville, Hicksville High SchoolDohyeon Park, of Manhasset, Manhasset High SchoolJack M. Chillemi, of Massapequa, Massapequa High SchoolRitvik Chilakamarthy, of Nesconset, Smithtown High School EastTimothy Liu, of New Hyde Park, Great Neck South High SchoolShourav B. Saha, of New Hyde Park, Great Neck South High SchoolBrendan J. Dervan, of Nissequogue, Smithtown High School EastGisele L. Lachman, of Oyster Bay, Oyster Bay High SchoolCameron V. Robinson, of Plainview, Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High SchoolConnor J. Brandvold, of Port Washington, Chaminade High SchoolNoah W. Sollinger, of Port Washington, Paul D. Schreiber High SchoolJenna Chin, of Roslyn, Herricks High SchoolJackson M. DeMasi, of Shirley, HomeschoolAlp S. Turgut, of Westbury, Jericho High SchoolMore than 1.5 million juniors in approximately 21,000 high schools entered the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2018 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Last fall, 16,000 semifinalists were named on a state-representational basis in numbers proportional to each state's percentage of the national total of graduating high school seniors. semifinalists were the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and represented less than one percent of the nation's seniors. To compete for Merit Scholarship awards, semifinalists first had to advance to the finalist level of the competition by fulfilling additional requirements. Each semifinalist was asked to submit a detailed scholarship application, which included writing an essay and providing information about extracurricular activities, awards, and leadership positions. Semifinalists also had to have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirmed the qualifying test performance. Priscila Korb contributed to this story.