Final 2020 National Merit Scholars Include Two Syosset Students

SYOSSET, NY — The final round of National Merit scholarship winners were announced this week. Two Syosset students and one Jericho student made the cut, in addition to three other Long Island students out of the 650 scholars. These Merit Scholar students are among the over 3,300 other college-sponsored award recipients who were announced in June.

Nikhil Vohra and Alex Zhuo, both students at Syosset High School, were named scholarship winners. Miranda K. Pietraski from Jericho High School also won the award.

Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among the finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program who will attend their institution. College-sponsored awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship.

This year, 167 colleges and universities are sponsoring about 4,100 Merit Scholarship awards. Sponsor colleges include 92 private and 75 public institutions located in 43 states and the District of Columbia.

This final group of winners brings the number of 2020 National Merit Scholars to about 7,600. These distinguished high school graduates will receive scholarships for undergraduate study worth a total of over $30 million.

In addition to college-sponsored awards, two other types of National Merit Scholarships were offered—2,500 National Merit $2500 Scholarships, for which all finalists competed, and more than 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for finalists who met criteria specified by their grantor organizations.

The other Long Island students who received this honor are Steven E. Nyman from Babylon High School, Christopher H. Moore from Ward Melville High School and James J. Lynch from Garden City High School.