6 Students From Greenwich Awarded National Merit Scholarships

GREENWICH, CT—Several Greenwich students from various high schools have been awarded $2,500 National Merit Scholarships.

According to a news release, the $2,500 Merit Scholar designees were chosen from a talent pool of some 16,000 outstanding finalists in the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program.

National Merit $2,500 Scholarship winners are the finalists in each state judged to have" the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies." The number of winners named in each state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the nation’s graduating high school seniors.

In Greenwich, winners included:

• Jackson J. DaPuzzo - Brunswick School- possible career field is in applied mathematics.
• Cecilia F. Duncan - Convent Of The Sacred Heart - Public Policy.
• Andrew J. Felton - lives in Greenwich and attends Rye Country Day School.
• Samuel H. Florin - Greenwich High School - mathematics.
• Skyler A. McDonnel - Greenwich High School - law.
• Iris Wenxin Shi - Greenwich High School - computer science.

According to the news release, these scholars were selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors, who appraised a substantial amount of information submitted by both the Finalists and their high schools: the academic record, including difficulty level of subjects studied and grades earned; scores from the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT); contributions and leadership in school and community activities; an essay written by the Finalist; and a recommendation written by a high school official.

This year’s National Merit Scholarship Program began in October 2019 when over 1.5 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools took the PSAT/NMSQT, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Last fall, the highest-scoring participants in each state, representing less than one percent of the nation’s high school seniors, were named Semifinalists on a state-representational basis. Only these approximately 17,000 Semifinalists had an opportunity to continue in the competition.

From the Semifinalist group, some 16,000 students met the very high academic standards and other requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. By the conclusion of the 2021 program, about 7,500 Finalists will have earned the “Merit Scholar” title and received a total of nearly $30 million in college scholarships.