NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP CORPORATION 1560 Sherman Avenue, Suite 200, Evanston, Illinois 60201-4897 (847) 866-5100 SEMIFINALISTS IN THE 2021 NATIONAL MERIT® SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM September 9, 2020 Announcement Contact: Eileen Artemakis or Matthew Budreau Public Information Phone: (847) 866-5100 Email: mediainfo@nmerit.net Website: www.nationalmerit.org Advance: For release on Wednesday, September 9, 2020 Note to editors: Semifinalists in your state are listed alphabetically by city and high school following this press release. This material is prepared solely for news media to announce the names of Semifinalists; its use for any other purpose is prohibited. Caution: Using numbers of Semifinalists to compare high schools, educational systems, or states will result in erroneous conclusions. The National Merit® Scholarship Program honors individual students who show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies. The program does not measure the quality or effectiveness of education within a school, system, or state. For more information about the competition, please visit NMSC’s website at www.nationalmerit.org. Semifinalists in the 2021 National Merit® Scholarship Program (Evanston, Illinois) Today officials of National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced the names of approximately 16,000 Semifinalists in the 66th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $30 million that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. Over 90 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and more than half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title. NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 400 business organizations and higher education institutions that share NMSC’s goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence. -more- Add one Semifinalists in the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program Steps in the 2021 Competition Over 1.5 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2019 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT ®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors. To become a Finalist, the Semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the Semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. A Semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and write an essay. From the approximately 16,000 Semifinalists, about 15,000 are expected to advance to the Finalist level, and in February they will be notified of this designation. All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from this group of Finalists. Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference. National Merit Scholarships Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2021. Every Finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit® $2500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state-representational basis. About 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be provided by approximately 220 corporations and business organizations for Finalists who meet their specified criteria, such as children of the grantor’s employees or residents of communities where sponsor plants or offices are located. In addition, about 180 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 4,100 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who will attend the sponsor institution. National Merit Scholarship winners of 2021 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join more than 353,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title. # # # National Merit, Merit Scholarship, Merit Scholar, and the corporate “Lamp of Learning” logo are federally registered service marks of National Merit Scholarship Corporation. PSAT/NMSQT is a registered trademark of National Merit Scholarship Corporation and College Board. Semifinalists: 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program MARYLAND ABERDEEN ABERDEEN H. S. 000 Angelo, Julius I. 000 Chung, Daniel 467 Melvin, Aidan T. 000 Pillalamarri, Khiyali K. ANNAPOLIS KEY SCHOOL 303 Simon, Noah G. BALTIMORE BALTIMORE CITY COLLEGE 000 Sherber, Jacob J. 000 Wylie, Maxwell T. BALTIMORE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE 454 Polansky, Juni Y. 169 Thompson, Jacob W. BRYN MAWR SCHOOL 200 Khosla, Riya 720 Suntha, Camryn A. CALVERT HALL COLLEGE H. S. 999 Taylor, Nicholas H. GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER CENTER FOR ARTS AND TECHNOLOGY 432 Kylin, Elise T. 303 LaBuff, Lucas A. CATONSVILLE H. S. 000 Mupparaju, Nikitha C. 000 Nowak, Sean O. EASTERN TECHNICAL H. S. 454 Wang, Lena GILMAN SCHOOL 843 Dett, Lucas M. 999 Emry, Cole C. 999 Nuermberger, Charles D. 000 Sternlicht, Maxwell A. 161 Zhang, Eric L. THE PARK SCHOOL 742 Dender, Anthony D. 999 Hirschhorn, Jacob M. 000 Newman-Toker, Maya H. PIKESVILLE H. S. 000 Lane, Jacob D. 450 Matz, Benjamin S. WESTERN SCHOOL OF TECHNOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE 000 Imam, Shaheer A. 999 Smith, Benjamin K. BETHESDA BETHESDA - CHEVY CHASE H. S. 000 Edmonds, Claire A. 000 Fairbanks, Eleanor M. 000 Fontana, Sofia G. 000 Kessner, Maya L. 450 Rosen, Frances D. 000 Sobel, Hailey Z. 000 Sparling, Sarah S. 000 Stocker, John V. 000 Tsui-Rosen, Teagan E. FRENCH INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL 999 Latendresse, Thomas M. HOLTON - ARMS SCHOOL 400 Frederick, Kelsey E. 303 Motsco, Isabella M. 160 Nakayama, Ema 000 Qi, Irene Y. 450 Tucker, Eleanor S. HOMESCHOOL 000 Brigham, Calista E. PARKTON HOWARD H. S. 450 Gibbons, Sarah E. POOLESVILLE MOUNT HEBRON H. S. 000 Raje, Isha R. 628 Reddy, Trisha S. 467 Snyder, Nicholas A. WALTER JOHNSON H. S. 999 Calhoun, Evan L. 161 Gaul, Ella M. 450 Gershwind, Beri S. 185 Hultman, Linnea C. 999 Kammula, Sachin V. 742 Nath, Moinak FREDERICK FREDERICK H. S. 451 Chen, Zacharias T. 300 Pan, Nathan S. TUSCARORA H. S. 450 Leonard, Zachary M. LANDON SCHOOL 200 Radimer, Kyle C. WALT WHITMAN H. S. 300 Bhattacharjee, Rhea 123 Blitz, Marc A. 000 Ginsky, Kaya 906 London, Emily M. 000 Rodgers, Susan B. 160 Scissors, Rachel E. 833 Spector, Jacob M. 821 Waldman, Benjamin M. 741 Weerakoon, Kushan S. FULTON RESERVOIR H. S. 000 Battalapalli, Trivikram 160 Gupta, Esha 160 Lei, Lily 454 Zecharias, Naomi H. GAITHERSBURG COVENANT LIFE SCHOOL 836 Parr, Emily D. BOONSBORO GERMANTOWN BOONSBORO H. S. 833 Gribok, Ekaterina A. NORTHWEST H. S. 000 Gu, Felix BURTONSVILLE SENECA VALLEY H. S. 000 Shah, Ketki A. PAINT BRANCH H. S. 000 Shawhan, Mary E. GLENELG CATONSVILLE GLENELG H. S. 000 Yin, Margaret A. MOUNT DE SALES ACADEMY 450 Kosloski, Emily R. CLARKSBURG HALENTHORPE CLARKSBURG H. S. 000 Sivanesan, Divahar HOMESCHOOL 000 Torrez, Alexander C. CLARKSVILLE IJAMSVILLE RIVER HILL H. S. 209 Abrams, Jordan B. 999 Chen, Ruby R. 160 Goturi, Nathan R. 000 Hu, Bryce K. 999 Li, Lily M. 160 Sethuraj, Swetha 300 Xiong, Jerry Y. 628 Zhao, Andrew K. 843 Zhou, Matthew J. OAKDALE H. S. 450 Doughty, Owen B. 000 Powers, Avery URBANA H. S. 833 Baran, Rio 451 Croghan, Lillian 160 Gentilucci, Calla Y. 999 Liu, Alexander 303 Liu, Emma 450 Liu, Isabella 628 Ratangee, Brina CLEAR SPRING HOMESCHOOL 950 Porter, Benjamin J. LEONARDTOWN LEONARDTOWN H. S. 454 Johnson, Annalee D. COLUMBIA ATHOLTON H. S. 000 Farnham, Nikki E. 000 Frazier, Peter E. 000 Howarth, Lucas R. 000 Hu, Richard M. 000 Li, Stone J. 000 Nguyen, Alexander M. 000 Raghavan, Jaikrishna V. MANCHESTER MANCHESTER VALLEY H. S. 455 Siegler, Ian 450 Swisher, Hailey A. MARRIOTTSVILLE MARRIOTTS RIDGE H. S. 167 Yuan, Allen Y. 302 Zhang, Angelina HAMMOND H. S. 303 Gorel, Devon J. LONG REACH H. S. 303 Goldberg, Max O. MORGANZA CHOPTICON H. S. 000 Reardon, Elizabeth ELLICOTT CITY CENTENNIAL H. S. 302 Brickhouse, Amaiya D. 000 Chen, Aaron S. 000 Du, Larry R. 303 Duan, Anthony B. 836 Germanas, Tomas Y. 209 Huang, Anika T. 700 Jiang, Ryan T. 833 Ju, Maggie 950 Kline, Asha B. 303 Li, Helen S. 000 Lidard, Christopher D. 000 Lin, Tyler H. 628 Mallela, Thanu Sree 302 Mammel, Isaac A. 301 Zhu, Eric 160 Zhu, Lindy NORTH BETHESDA GEORGETOWN PREPARATORY SCHOOL 836 Balbach, Joshua J. 999 Prame, Matthew M. OLNEY OUR LADY OF GOOD COUNSEL H. S. 000 Close, Alexandra 000 Henne, Clara S. HEREFORD H. S. 303 Anand, Rishi R. POOLESVILLE H. S. 000 Bao, Robert S. 160 Chakravarthyy, Smrithi S. 000 Chen, Alexander 000 Chokkalingam, Kandasamy K. 000 Goettsch, Aidan R. 000 Hou, Joshua 000 Johnson, Cole P. 000 Liu, Jane 303 Liu, Jason 000 Penikelapati, Srisrujan 000 Sachar, Angelina C. 300 Sarkar, Ronoy 185 Soma, Shreyas R. 000 Stallard, Christopher E. 000 Stan, Sonia V. 000 Su, Sabrina I. 000 Tang, Nathan 000 Ye, Jonathan X. 000 Yu, Gene G. 160 Yu, Ian POTOMAC BULLIS SCHOOL 000 LaMotta, Andrew J. 000 Sun, Henry WINSTON CHURCHILL H. S. 000 Cao, Emily 185 Dong, Vivian 000 Fan, Julie Y. 000 Jeong, Seung Hyun 000 Jiang, Andy Q. 000 Ju, Brian Q. 000 Liu, Daniel G. 000 Luo, Jeffrey J. 000 Mackey, Tsach C. 000 Nie, Al 000 Schiff, Noah P. 000 Tong, Emily A. 000 Varner, Nathan 168 Vinal, Madeline G. 999 Xu, Evan K. HEIGHTS SCHOOL 553 Dreiband, John ROCKVILLE MELVIN J. BERMAN HEBREW ACADEMY 000 Sultan-Reisler, Tekoa S. COLONEL ZADOK MAGRUDER H. S. 000 Kwiatkowski, Benjamin T. RICHARD MONTGOMERY H. S. 171 Chen, Daniel 000 Chu, Timothy J. 904 Chung, Jaewoo 990 Du, Fang 000 Gu, Helen 628 Hanway, Corinne B. 000 Hu, Jason 303 Huang, Kevin Z. 904 Jasperse, Joseph G. 455 Karbowski, Alexander 000 LeSchack, Jade D. 999 Liao, Kyle 741 Logsdon, Sara R. 999 Louie, Naomi K. 999 Ma, Chris H. 941 Ma, Mary Z. 218 Mei, Sabrina J. 209 Meng, Annika J. 000 Molot, Sarah 000 Nanda, Namya 904 Posner, Justin L. 000 Shen, Jerry 999 Shen, Lucy 303 Sivakumar, Danesh 000 Sun, Michael B. 000 Tang, Grace J. 000 Zhai, Amy 162 Zhang, Eileen T. ROCKVILLE H. S. 000 Franke, Lucas M. 300 Lee, Jaxon D. OWINGS MILLS MC DONOGH SCHOOL 000 Pokigo, Cecily P. 999 Sung, Natalie A. 3 CHARLES E. SMITH JEWISH DAY SCHOOL 450 Minsk, Oren T. Semifinalists: 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program Maryland (continued) 254 628 Rabinowitz, Matthew L. Trainor, Jane A. THOMAS SPRIGG WOOTTON H. S. 000 Chen, Michael J. 970 Davydov, Andrei I. 200 Dong, Annie L. 628 He, Amy X. 999 Helgeson, Ellie K. 628 Helgeson, Emma E. 602 Hwang, Daniel S. 000 LeDoux, Catherine S. 000 Li, Bojun 000 Li, Grace L. 000 Li, Jennifer J. 742 Moghimi, Nastaran 999 Ramesh, Pranav 457 Sawyer, Ethan W. 999 Shi, Jenna M. 000 Shi, Jessica Y. 000 Sohn, Katherine J. 000 Wilbur, Aidan B. 303 Zou, James J. SALISBURY PARKSIDE H. S. 950 Sadjadi, Sara SEVERN TIMONIUM DULANEY H. S. 999 Chen, Serena 161 Cong, Grace 160 Xie, Kristine C. 999 Zhang, Steven H. TOWSON LOCH RAVEN H. S. 000 Spielman, Alexander M. LOYOLA BLAKEFIELD H. S. 303 Brehm, Aidan M. NOTRE DAME PREPARATORY SCHOOL 628 Jeyachandran, Joanna N. TOWSON H. S. 160 Mao, Shuming A. 907 Melia, Daniel J. 907 Rich, Noah J. 455 Viazanko, Adam K. 000 Wang, Eleuthera 000 Yup, Tyler N. WALDORF ST. CHARLES H. S. 161 Gilmer, Evangeline J. WALKERSVILLE WALKERSVILLE H. S. 461 Hildebrand, Roame A. ANNAPOLIS AREA CHRISTIAN SCHOOL 000 Taylor, Samantha G. SEVERNA PARK SEVERN SCHOOL 712 Campbell, Kurtis F. 772 Oliver, William J. 000 Youssef, Julia H. SILVER SPRING MONTGOMERY BLAIR H. S. 000 Bechky, Aviva R. 000 Bernstein, Ezra M. 000 Braier, Shoshana 000 Brodkin, Oscar M. 920 Chu, Michael C. 466 Coffin, Ethan S. 000 Elazar, Noah B. 999 Fisher Lopez, Anna L. 843 Frank, Nicole G. 300 Ge, Daniel Y. 830 Harrington, Fiona D. 000 Hu, Arthur A. 000 Joo, Bumjin 000 Kayaalp, Ozan K. 906 Keshav, Dheeraj U. 000 Kokiyelov, Mark G. 301 Liu, Jason E. 999 Luo, Raymond 742 Monroe, Daniel G. 000 Mukhopadhyay, Rajit 450 Oh, Ethan J. 000 Qian, Eli S. 501 Qian, Timothy C. 000 Robison, Caroline A. 301 Semenova, Svetlana Y. 999 Shrestha, Ishaan A. 830 Slott, Nora E. 000 Tang, Esther 999 Tong, Christopher L. 000 Tran, Nicole E. 160 Vaez-Ghaemi, Shariar 000 Wagger, Marc S. 000 Wallsten, Charlotte S. 000 Wang, Evan Z. 000 Williams, Bracklinn N. 000 Wu, Colin W. 000 Wu, Gabriel D. 742 Yu, Chad K. 000 Zenick, Joseph A. 999 Zhou, Lillian WHEATON H. S. 000 Baxter, Rebecca J. 000 Beteselassie, Tsegazeab N. 000 Moges, Yeabsira R. 000 Rhoman, Alexander C. SYKESVILLE CENTURY H. S. 451 De Silva, Yasada C. 303 De Silva, Yasadu I. 4