National Merit Scholars From Palo Alto Announced

PALO ALTO, CA — The next group of 2021 National Merit Scholarship winners include nine high school students from Palo Alto.

The National Merit winners from Palo Alto are among the more than 3,100 announced nationally this year to receive between $500 and $2,000 scholarships from colleges and universities across the country, the National Merit Scholarship Corp. said in a news release Wednesday.

National Merit Scholarship winners from Palo Alto in 2021 include:

• Eirene Ang, Gunn High School, Northeastern University
  • Probable field of study: Neuroscience
• Hallie E. Faust, Palo Alto High School, USC
  • Probable field of study: Geological/Geophysical Engineering
• Luke Z. Flees, Gunn High School, University of Chicago
  • Probable field of study: Engineering
• Avery Bryn Hanna, Palo Alto High School, Tufts University
  • Probable field of study: Science, Research
• Jack R. Herrema, Gunn High School, Purdue University
  • Probable field of study: Mechanical Engineering
• Natalia L. Maahs, Palo Alto High School, Colorado College
  • Probable field of study: Chemistry
• Zachary Meyers, Gunn High School, Tufts University
  • Probable field of study: Computer Science
• Simon S. Minami, Palo Alto High School, Tufts University
  • Probable field of study: Economics
• Drew M. Mukherjee, Palo Alto High School, University of Chicago
  • Probable field of study: Undecided

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The National Merit winners announced this week will have their scholarships funded by the colleges and universities that they will attend. One hundred and sixty colleges and universities — including 85 private and 75 public schools — took part in the merit scholarship program in 2021.

An additional group of college-sponsored National Merit scholars will be announced in July, the scholarship corporation said. This group is part of the approximately 7,500 National Merit scholarship winners who will be selected by the end of 2021. National Merit scholarships via corporate-sponsored awards and the corporation’s own $2,500 scholarships were announced earlier in the spring.

More than 1.5 million juniors nationally entered the 2021 National Merit scholarship program when they took the 2019 preliminary SAT/National Merit scholarship qualifying test, the corporation said. About 17,000 semifinalists, fewer than 1 percent of the country’s high school seniors, were announced last fall.

Semifinalists had to write an essay and detail their extracurricular activities, awards and leadership positions to become a finalist. About half of the 16,000 finalists will be merit scholars by the end of the year, the corporation said.