44 Local Students Named as Semifinalists for National Merit Scholarships

The National Merit Scholarship Program announced names of about 16,000 high school students who are semi-finalists for scholarships, and 44 of them are from local area public and private schools in North Hollywood, Sherman Oaks and Studio City. 

The students took the Preliminary Scholastic Assessment Test (PSAT) in the junior year of high school, which is similar to the SAT, but shorter and takes less time. It is the test that qualifies the students for the

National Merit Scholarship Awards that total more than $32 million.

More than half of these finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, and earn the Merit Scholar® title. It is run by a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance and was established in 1955.

The scholarships are underwritten by 440 business organizations and higher education institutions that share the goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.

Congrats to all.

BUCKLEY SCHOOL

Gabriella P. Selover,

CAMPBELL HALL

Michelle J. Yeghyayan

HARVARD—WESTLAKE SCHOOL

Aaron W. Anderson,

Evan C. Andrews-Jubelt,

Wendy W. Chen,

Madeleine Friendly,

Samantha R. Frischling,

Benjamin S. Gail,

Brendan P. Gallagher,

Rhett D. Gentile

Michael C. Hooks,

Martine T. Johannessen,

Brian Jun,

Harrison D. Kalt,

Kenneth T. Kim,

Maya B. Landau,

Joshua R. Lappen,

David S. Lim,

Elana A. Meer,

Yasmin Moreno,

Michael V. Rothberg,

Christopher B. Sebastian,

Demren J. Sinik,

Benjamin A. Vigman,

John D. Wilding,

Liza N. Wohlberg,

Samuel Z. Wolk,

Ashley E. Wu,

Caitlin Yee,

Adam Zucker,

NORTH HOLLYWOOD HIGH SCHOOL

John A. Gleb,

Robert Hu,

Chiyoung Kim,

Joseph M. Kim,

Veronica M. Kim,

Nathan Lam,

Sebastien C. Naji,

Samantha G. Page,

Leonard C. Shaw,

Suna Zekioglu,

Jessica Zhao,

Lily Zhou

NOTRE DAME HIGH SCHOOL

Kazia D. Mermel

OAKWOOD SCHOOL

 Ian H. Markowitz

VAN NUYS HIGH SCHOOL

Tejasree S. Ganapa