Tappan Zee High School Senior Is Merit Semifinalist

ORANGETOWN, NY — A student in the South Orangetown school district, Peter M. Wu of Tappan Zee High School, has been named a semi-finalist in the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program.

The semi-finalists announced on Wednesday are among 16,000 high-school seniors who will go on to compete for 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $30 million.

According to a press release from the National Merit Scholarship Program, more than 90 percent of the semi-finalists will be named as finalists. Of those, about half will win a scholarship.

More than 1.5 million students applied for the highly competitive scholarship and the semi-finalists represent less than 1 percent of all high-school seniors in the U.S. For each state, the number of semi-finalists is proportional to that state’s percentage of the total graduating seniors in the country.

NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by about 400 business organizations and higher education institutions that share NMSC’s goal of encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.

To become a finalist, students and a high school official must submit a detailed application. The application must contain information about a student’s academic record, leadership abilities, the honors and awards they’ve received and more.

Students will find out in February whether they make it to the finalist stage. National Merit Scholarship winners of 2021 will be announced in four waves beginning in April and concluding in July.