Distinguished Irvington High School seniors Rishit Gupta, Adriana Palmieri and Aidan Sullivan have been named semifinalists in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship program.
“I am beyond proud of our students whose hard work has placed them in the top of our nation’s young people,” Principal Juliet L. Gevargis-Mizimakoski said.
Gupta, Palmieri and Sullivan are among 16,000 high school students nationwide who were awarded the distinction by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. They represent the top 1% of students from across the country who earned the highest scores on the 2018 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of entrants. More than 1.5 million students from more than 21,000 high schools entered the academic competition by taking the qualifying test as juniors.
According to its website, the National Merit Scholarship program honors students who show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies. The program will award approximately 7,600 scholarships worth more than $31 million next spring.
To become a finalist, the students must submit a detailed scholarship application, demonstrate an outstanding academic record, write an essay and earn scores that confirm their earlier performance on the qualifying test. About 90% of the semifinalists will advance to the next round, and about half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship.
National Merit Scholarship finalists will be announced in February, while scholarship winners will be announced in the spring.
