Healdsburg Student Named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist

HEALDSBURG, CA — A Healdsburg student is among seven in Sonoma County named semifinalists this week in the 65th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. The local high school seniors have an opportunity to compete for 7,600 scholarships worth more than $31 million that will be offered next spring, according to the National Merit Scholarship Program.

Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition and to be considered for a Merit Scholarship award. More than 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and about half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, which would earn them the Merit Scholar title, according to program officials.

More than 1.5 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2018 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screening of program entrants. The pool of semifinalists, which are less than 1 percent of high school seniors nationwide, are the highest-scoring entrants in each state.

There are approximately 16,000 semifinalists in the scholarship program; Healdsburg student Aidan H. Whitlock, a senior at Healdsburg High School, is among them.

Other semifinalists from Sonoma County include: Credo High School senior Esme P. Kaplan-Kinsey, of Rohnert Park, and Technology High School senior Travis J. Jenkins, of Rohnert Park; Maria Carrillo High School seniors Michelle J. Huang and Audrey Moessing, both of Santa Rosa; Cardinal Newman High School senior Grace C. Sorensen, of Santa Rosa; and Santa Rosa High School senior Emma J. Simon, of Santa Rosa.

Finalists will be announced in February.

To become a finalist, the semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, which includes an academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. Each semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm the student's earlier performance on the qualifying test.

All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from this group of finalists, according to program officials. 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.