35 Students In Winnetka Area Named National Merit Semifinalists

WINNETKA, IL — Nearly three dozen seniors at high schools in New Trier Township qualified as semifinalists for National Merit scholarships. About 16,000 students nationwide remain eligible to receive more than $30 million in college scholarships in the spring, according to the Evanston-based National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

Students can qualify for the semifinalist stage with their scores on the 2019 preliminary SAT test. To reach the finalist stage, students have to submit a detailed application, including an essay and recommendation from a high school official. The group will be narrowed down to finalists in February, and about 7,600 scholarships will be awarded by the end of the 2020-21 academic year.

This year's semifinalists include 32 students from New Trier High School and one each from local private schools — Christian Heritage Academy in Northfield, Loyola Academy in Wilmette and North Shore Country Day School in Winnetka.

Those totals represent 10 fewer Loyola students, three fewer New Trier students and one fewer North Shore Country Day School students as were named semifinalists last year. No students from Christian Heritage Academy made it to the semifinalist stage for the 2019-20 school year.

By the end of the process in July, one student from each of the two private schools and 14 New Trier grads were awarded National Merit scholarships.

Related:
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The following New Trier High School students were named National Merit semifinalists for the 2020-21 school year:

• Vivian R. Adelman
• Frederick Crone
• Taylor M. Daniels
• Silpol Dhiantravan
• James Donnelly
• Liam Donohoe
• Christina R. Fahmy
• Hailey M. Fitzsimmons
• Alexander E. Gordon
• Paul M. Graham
• Jacob F. Hahn
• Isabelle D. Hester
• Alice Hu
• Ryan C. Kennedy
• Maximus J. Leibov
• Eric Liu
• Linnea R. Mason
• Emilia T. McDougal
• Russell W. McGrath
• Isaac A. Moore
• Julia A. Nelson
• Ava N. Nemerovski
• Finnian D. Patten
• Ian X. Quan
• Ryan D. Rittner
• Louis J. Scheinfeld
• Thomas S. Schindler
• Mia Sedgewick
• Brian Shen
• Benjamin D. Steigmann
• Eleanor A. Winkler
• Benjamin M. Worth

The 32 Trevians listed above were joined at the semifinalist stage by a trio of private school attendees:

• Jacob Sherman, North Shore Country Day School
• Charles Radtke, Loyola Academy
• Megan J. Ng, Christian Heritage Academy