3 Pomperaug High School Seniors Named National Merit Finalists

MIDDLEBURY, CT — Three Pomperaug High School seniors have been named 2021 National Merit Finalists by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, the school announced this week.

Winnie Chen, Colin J. Scherer and Triloshan K. Thillaikumaran were each given a Certificat of Merit by Dr. Paul Jones, Pomperaug's Principal, and the students were recognized at the Region 15 Board of Education meeting on Monday.

The three now have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $30 million that will be announced this spring.

"Region 15 is proud to recognize Winnie Chen, Colin Scherer, and Triloshan Thillaikumaran as National Merit Scholarship Finalists," Jones said in a statement. "With this honor these students are in the top 1 percent of all students in their class who took the PSAT during the 2019-2020 school year. They continue to show the highest level of academic achievement at Pomperaug High School through our most rigorous courses. These students have gone above and beyond in giving back to their communities through a variety of student organizations and community programs. We are proud to have them represent our school community."

The path to becoming a National Merit Finalist began when over 1.5 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2019 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants.

Chen, Scherer and Thillaikumaran were first selected as National Merit Semifinalists, the midpoint of the 2021 NMSC competition. This represented less than 1 percent of the nation's high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state, and is an honor only given to approximately 16,000 students from across the country.

To become a Finalist, students were required to submit a detailed application sharing information about their academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received.

Approximately 15,000 students were designated as National Merit Finalists from the Semifinalist pool.