Record High National Merit Semifinalists At Syosset High School

SYOSSET, NY — A record high 32 students at Syosset High School have been named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists, the school district announced Thursday. The students qualified for the distinction by scoring among the highest in the state on the 2019 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, or PSAT/NMSQT.

Giovanni Durante, principal at the school, said the administration was "incredibly proud" of the semifinalists for their academic achievements.

"The fact that we had an astounding 32 semifinalists is a testament to the determination and hard work they have displayed here at Syosset High School," he said. "We wish them continued success for their futures."

There were about 16,000 semifinalists nationwide this year, representing less than 1 percent of American high school seniors. They were chosen by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

Semifinalists have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, must be endorsed and recommended by a school official, and have to write an essay. They must have qualified to compete for about 7,600 National Merit scholarships worth more than $30 million. Finalists will be announced in February and the winners will be named in the spring.

The Syosset Central School District congratulated the following students: William Akunevicz, Arjun Chadha, Stella Chen, Evan Cheng, Michael Chu, Anoushka Dalvi, Brian Gao, Simran Goel, Shreyas Goswami, Esther Han, Hamza Iqbal, Alex Ji, Michael Kopacz, Joshua Langman, Ariane Lee, Borui Lu, Michael Lu, Angela Mao, Jenny Ou, Amanda Qian, Giselle Rasquinha, Jacob Rosenberg, Trisha Sinha, Nolan Smithwick, Alexa Trapani, Aayush Turakhia, Emma Van Dorn, Eric Wang, Lara Weinberg, Max Yin, Joshua Yun, and Kevin Zhao.