The National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced on Sept. 9 its 2021 list of semifinalist high school students who will compete for a share of 7,600 scholarships worth more than $30 million. Winners of the 66th annual competition will be announced nationally between April and July next year.
High school juniors in about 21,000 high schools in the United States entered the academic competition by taking the 2019 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
The highest-scoring students in each state represent the pool of semifinalists who, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, represent less than 1% of United States high school seniors.
The next step for a semifinalist to become a finalist is to complete the required application that includes their academic record, an essay and a letter of recommendation by a high school official.
Finalists are then chosen on the basis of academic record, their participation in community and school activities, how they have demonstrated leadership ability, employment and awards and honors received.
From a group of about 16,000 semifinalists, an expected 15,000 advance to finalists. Students will be notified in February if they are finalists and half of those win a scholarship.
The National Merit Scholarship winners, chosen on the basis of accomplishments, skills and potential for college success, are selected from this last group. Winners are notified, on a rolling basis, from April to July in 2021.
Three types are scholarships are awarded including
- National Merit $2500 Scholarships (one of 2,500 available)
- Corporate-sponsored awards (provided by corporations and business organizations for finalists who meet their specified criteria, such as children of the grantor’s employees or residents of communities where sponsor offices or plants are located)
- College-sponsored scholarships for finalists who will attend the sponsor’s college or university
High school students interested in applying in future years need to talk to their school counselor to make arrangements to take the PSAT/NMSQT test. Registration is through the high school and not by the students. For information on the competition, bit.ly/3hzLR8E
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation was established in 1955 and is an independent, not-for-profit group that does not operate with government assistance. Since its founding it has awarded about 432,000 scholarships worth over $1.7 billion.
The goals of the organization are to reward academically dedicated students, encourage academic excellence at all levels of education, promote a deeper respect for learning in general and to encourage individuals and organizations to sponsor scholarships. nationalmerit.org
Here is the list of semifinalists in the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program in Los Angeles County by their school and the school’s town:
AGOURA HILLS
Agoura Hills HS
- Rachel C. Fox
- Ethan G. Goldenberg
- Daniel L. Nathanson
ALHAMBRA
Mark Keppel HS
- Jasmine J. Lim
ARCADIA
Arcadia HS
- Legolas Chen
- William Chen
- Alex Dang
- Jiacheng Hu
- Dongming Hua
- Jolene Huey
- Nathan L. Kuo
- Kate M. Larrick
- Tanya D. Lee
- Claire A. Liang
- Margaret Lin
- Alex Liu
- Charisse Y. Liu
- Maxwell J. Montemayor
- Jenny Qiu
- Raghav Ramanujam
- Maggie Y. Sun
- Onassa Sun
- Jonathan H. Wang
- Melody Yang
- Henry H. Zeng
BEVERLY HILLS
Beverly Hills HS
- Parsa A. Famad
- Bradley K. Moon
- Nicholas M. Walker
BRENTWOOD
Heritage HS
- Spencer E. Wallace
BURBANK
Burbank HS
- Mahima Kodavati
CALABASAS
Calabasas HS
- Quynh-Anh N. Nguyen
- Jeremey H. White
CARSON
California Academy of Mathematics and Science
- Shua Cho
- Silas John
- Julianne L. Lim
- Crystal Ma
- Zoe D. Storaasli
CERRITOS
Cerritos HS
- Angelina K. Lee
- Ryan J. Salazar
- Karina Singh
- Joshua P. Zhu
Gretchen Whitney HS
- Charles J. Chen
- Hirad Hosseini
- Ryan S. Muraliraj
- Kenneth D. Nguyen
- Ryan Tseng
CHATSWORTH
Chatsworth HS
- Vince Dao Daloisio
Sierra Canyon HS
- Abdullah Z. Rafique
- David A. Rotblatt
CLAREMONT
Claremont HS
- Khushi Dwivedi
- Aleksandra M. Watkins
Vivian Webb School
- Jingyi Han
- Sneha Jindal
- Shu Wen Zhan
Webb School of California
- Jiaming Feng
- Marshall Olmos
- Pinlin Xu
- Andy Zhang
CULVER CITY
Culver City HS
- Brandon Kim
DIAMOND BAR
Diamond Bar HS
- Sritaran S. Bondada
- Emily C. Chen
- Aaron Hao
- Brandon G. Kam
- Caitlin Lee
- Camille A. McCurry
- Celine T. Shen
- Nathan C. Song
- Claire Wang
- Derek S. Wang
- Benjamin C. Wu
- Chelsea A. Wu
- Breanna Y. Yang
- Jacob A. Zhi
- Erin Zhou
- Luke F. Zhou
EAGLE ROCK
Eagle Rock HS
- Diego A. Wong
EL SEGUNDO
Da Vinci Science HS
- Nicole P. Yeh
ENCINO
Holy Martyrs HS
- Lori N. Garavartanian
GLENDORA
Glendora HS
- Brandon Jia
- Lauren Meraz
GRANADA HILLS
Granada Hills Charter HS
- Kaden S. Chou
- Se Eun K. Ryu
HACIENDA HEIGHTS
Glen A. Wilson HS
- Sirjen Kaur
LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE
Flintridge Preparatory School
- John McCloud
- Rodolf Ruiz
- Claire A. Senft
La Cañada HS
- Derek Ahn
- Ian Baik
- Hee Su Chung
- Trin J. Chung
- Reza Hemmati
- Derek L. Jiang
- Olivia L. Joung
- Chase A. Kerstein
- Jordan A. Lay
- Nadia L. Lintag
- Michael T. Lisano
- Ellaney N. Matarese
- Cassidy M. Olson
- Amelia E. Seropian
- Leila R. Thompsky
LA CRESCENTA
Crescenta Valley HS
- Anahita Ahmadi
- Prashanth S. Bhaskara
- Adarsh Chilkunda
- Jaya S. Hamkins
- Margaret W. Kim
- Sarah Nakama
LA VERNE
Bonita HS
- Avinash A. Chauhan
- Sophia L. Whitaker
LAKEWOOD
Home school
- Nicholas J. Benefield
LONG BEACH
Long Beach Polytechnic HS
- Liam R. Alpern
- Caleb E. Marsh
- Jason White
Robert A. Millikan HS
- Jacob. P. Bower
Sato Academy of Math and Science
- Safa Saeed
LOS ANGELES
Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet HS
- Kelli A. Van Brunt
Brentwood School
- Louis B. Adler
- Haley J. Gauer
- Giulia N. Germano
- Lauren A. Gold
- Dylan S. Kane
- Sadie M. Sarkisian
Fairfax HS
- Grace Kim
Girls Academic Leadership Academy
- Naomi E. Macey
Alexander Hamilton HS
- Ryan W. Barnes
- Elizabeth A. Cushnir
- Max B. Fattal
- Andrew Palacci
Le Lycée Français de Los Angeles
- Asher I. Cohen
Abraham Lincoln HS
- Cindy Lei
Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies
- Yunsu Ha
- Macy J. Pine
Los Angeles County HS for the Arts
- Nicole Lam
Loyola HS
- Kyle Beerbower
- Benjamin M. Cortez
- Nicholas George
- Julian D. Ha
- Kevin Lavelle
- Sameer Nayyar
Marlborough School
- Eleanor L. Atlee
- Sidney I. Bae
- Emma O. Cruz
- Kaelyn Hindshaw
- Isabelle A. Shapiro
- Maisie Thompson
Marymount HS
- Jennifer J. Kim
- Julia H. Kim
University HS
- Brenden K. Barber-Choi
Windward School
- Nicholas A. Cohen
- William S. Gallon
- Emma Z. Green
Wish Academy HS
- Angela H. Yang
MALIBU
Malibu HS
- Emma M. Sudmann
MANHATTAN BEACH
Mira Costa HS
- Brandon M. Bui
- Owen A. Campbell
- Lauren Chiu
- Shane P. Foley
- William T. Gerken
- Audrey E. Lee
- Nicolas M. Lee
- Bryce C. Li
- Max W. Riley
- Alexandra L. Runnels
- Megan K. Shintaku
- Caleb H. Wallis
NORTH HOLLYWOOD
North Hollywood HS
- Margot S. Dayan
- James A. Dy
- Samantha P. Krulik
- Aidan C. McCarthy
- Saiprakash Paspuleti
- Albert Zhang
Oakwood School
- Koa M. Lee
PACIFIC PALISADES
Palisades Charter HS
- Patrick H. King
- Daniel J. Ravicz
- Sydney L. Savarese
- Walker J. Uhls
PALOS VERDES ESTATES
Palos Verdes HS
- Daniel Belzberg
- Matthew H. Kang
- Beom Joon Kim
- Phillipe S. Wiederkehr
PALOS VERDES PENINSULA
Chadwick School
- Hannah H. Bogen
- Marco R. Burstein
- Lukas R. Harris
- Rohan A. Joshi
- Cade M. Vernon
- Alanna Zhang
PASADENA
La Salle HS
- Matthew B. Day
Maranatha HS
- Memphis M. Lau
John Marshall Fundamental School
- Colson T. Kishimoto
Polytechnic HS
- Maggie S. Grether
- Molly M. Hill
- Audrey Y. Kim
- Sarah A. Thein
Sequoyah School
- Julian Suh-Toma
Westridge School
- Simone M. Kang
- Mirelle Lindquist
- Maya P. Melnik
- Katherine N. Mrozek
- Jennifer L. Spinoglio
- Jiatong Zhang
REDONDO BEACH
Redondo Union HS
- Madeleine Bloomer
- Liam Hogan
- Rylee Kang
- Juninho Paniouchkine
RESEDA
Cleveland HS
- Ryan C. Kim
ROLLING HILLS ESTATES
Palos Verdes Peninsula HS
- Jason G. Apostol
- Kosei S. Chetanna
- Russell T. Chuang
- Aksh Garg
- Amy W. Huang
- J Calvin Kim
- Skylar J. Lo
- Sarah T. Omalley
- Andrew R. Sinsioco
- Madison S. Yeh
ROSEMEAD
Rosemead HS
- Jordan K. Huynh
ROWLAND HEIGHTS
John A. Rowland HS
- Bryan C. Lai
- Melody Lo
SAN GABRIEL
Gabrielino HS
- Curtis Y. Chen
- Melanie Tang
San Gabriel HS
- Kelvin Luu
SAN MARINO
San Marino HS
- Matthew G. Lee
- Anna K. Moller
- Andrew J. Yim
SANTA MONICA
Crossroads School
- Addison Davis
Santa Monica HS
- Collin B. Beal
- Kole A. Lee
SOUTH PASADENA
South Pasadena HS
- Frances H. Chiu
- Matthew B. Haines
- Jessica G. Li
- Luyang Zhang
STUDIO CITY
Harvard-Westlake School
- Anneliese V. Ardizzone
- Nicole P. Austen
- Lyon U. Chung
- Yvette J. Copeland
- Ruoshan Dong
- Eli Friedman
- Navid Ghodsi
- Andrew Gong
- Akseli Kangaslahti
- Kyle T. Kaufman
- Matthew J. Kihiczak
- Christopher M. Ladreyt
- Angela G. Lee
- Austin J. Lee
- Christina E. Lee
- Matthew C. Lee
- Emma R. Limor
- Bennett J. Markinson
- Ford T. McDill
- Samantha M. McLoughlin
- Samantha A. Morris
- Zane M. Neelin
- Allison S. Park
- Felicity O. Phelan
- Matthew W. Redford
- Santiago Salazar
- Allegra C. Saltzman
- Anna F. Shell
- Eunji Shin
- Hope M. Shinderman
- Brooke A. Stanford
- John L. Szijjarto
- William K. Tao
- Charles H. Thumann
- Ryan A. Tsai
- Jasmine Wang
- Tyler M. Weigand
- Benjamin B. Weinberg
- Aaron Zhao
TEMPLE CITY
Temple City HS
- Phoebe G. Chan
- Sean Chan
- Tuan Anh Q. Nguyen
TORRANCE
South HS
- Sara Hasegawa
- Ella R. Marantz
- Jessica C. Oey
- Alexis S. Rampolla
- Shannon A. Shao
- Cindy Y. Zhang
West HS
- James J. Han
- Emma X. Isella
- Israel Ryu
TUJUNGA
Verdugo Hills HS
- Alex Yeghikian
VALENCIA
Valencia HS
- June N. Griffin
- Andrew J. Hahn
- Brooke L. Holtom
West Ranch HS
- Remy J. Bell
- Emily H. Chang
- Kevin T. Gillespie
- Jessamine Jin
- Janice M. Jung
- Steve S. Lee
- Joshua J. Xie
VALLEY GLEN
Stem 3 Academy
Emet Z. Hirsch
WALNUT
Walnut HS
- Prabhleen Kaur
- Christopher A. Phillips
- Jonathan P. Steele
- Nicole W. Zhang
WESTLAKE VILLAGE
Oaks Christian HS
- Sterling C. Drummond
- Claire Nguyen
Westlake HS
- Yusuf S. Alvi
- Ryan L. Chu
- Arjun J. Gutta
- Hillary A. Hsu
WOODLAND HILLS
El Camino Real Charter HS
- Jacob S. Isrow
- Adam M. Lehavi
Louisville HS
- Kate M. Powledge
William Howard Taft Charter HS
- Derek N. Askaryar
Source: Los Angeles Daily News
