Hewlett Student Named National Merit Scholar

HEWLETT, NY — A G.W. Hewlett High School student was one of 26 Long Islanders who are among 3,300 second round winners of the National Merit Scholarships for 2020. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced the list of scholars on Wednesday.

The finalists in the second round will receive $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship. An additional group of scholars will be announced in July, bringing the total number of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship recipients in the 2020 competition to about 4,100.

The merit scholarship winners announced this week were among a group of about 7,600 high school seniors who will receive National Merit Scholarships for college undergraduate study worth over $30 million. Earlier this spring, 31 Long Island students were named winners of corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards and National Merit $2500 Scholarships.

The Long Island students who received this honor include:

• Paul Bartolemea, of Baldwin, Kellenberg Memorial High School
• Eirini Drosos, of Bethpage, Bethpage High School
• Natalie F. Walsh, of Centereach, Centereach High School
• Paige S. Robinson, of Commack, Commack High School
• Jake T. Butkevich, of East Setauket, Ward Melville High School
• Benjamin A. Templeton, of East Setauket, Ward Melville High School
• Kayla Quinn, of Garden City, Garden City High School
• Tessie Dong, of Great Neck, Great Neck South High School
• Talia Katz, of Great Neck, Great Neck South High School
• Christina Liu, of Great Neck, Great Neck South High School
• Keena Yin, of Great Neck, Great Neck South High School
• Jack I. Hoffman, of Hewlett, George W. Hewlett High School
• Sarah Choi, of Hicksville, Hicksville High School
• Dohyeon Park, of Manhasset, Manhasset High School
• Jack M. Chillemi, of Massapequa, Massapequa High School
• Ritvik Chilakamarthy, of Nesconset, Smithtown High School East
• Timothy Liu, of New Hyde Park, Great Neck South High School
• Shourav B. Saha, of New Hyde Park, Great Neck South High School
• Brendan J. Dervan, of Nissequogue, Smithtown High School East
• Gisele L. Lachman, of Oyster Bay, Oyster Bay High School
• Cameron V. Robinson, of Plainview, Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School
• Connor J. Brandvold, of Port Washington, Chaminade High School
• Noah W. Sollinger, of Port Washington, Paul D. Schreiber High School
• Jenna Chin, of Roslyn, Herricks High School
• Jackson M. DeMasi, of Shirley, Homeschool
• Alp S. Turgut, of Westbury, Jericho High School

More than 1.5 million juniors in approximately 21,000 high schools entered the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2018 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants.

Last fall, 16,000 semifinalists were named on a state-representational basis in numbers proportional to each state's percentage of the national total of graduating high school seniors. semifinalists were the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and represented less than one percent of the nation's seniors.

To compete for Merit Scholarship awards, semifinalists first had to advance to the finalist level of the competition by fulfilling additional requirements. Each semifinalist was asked to submit a detailed scholarship application, which included writing an essay and providing information about extracurricular activities, awards, and leadership positions. Semifinalists also had to have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirmed the qualifying test performance.

Priscila Korb contributed to this story.