Hinsdale Central Announces National Merit Semifinalists

Submitted by Hinsdale Township High School District 86

Hinsdale Central High School today proudly announced its National Merit Semifinalists for the Class of 2016. Students are automatically screened for the program when taking the PSAT/NMSQT test in October of their junior year. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, which represents less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest scoring entrants in each state.

The following students earned the National Merit Semifinalist distinction: Dana Ahdab, Benjamin Anderson, Anika Arvanitis, Ankush Bajaj, Shiv Bajaj, Steven Botsoe, Sunny Chen, Honor Crandell, Lauren Excell, Jahanavi Gaur, Elise Glaser, Benjamin Hall, Rachael Han, Jacob Heiser, Ellen Jiang, Elizabeth Keller, MinSoo Kim, Kenneth Li, Cecelia Moran, Brendan Ryan, Gabriella Seo, Shannon Sinwell, Ian Sokolowski, Lucia Ticho, Serena Tolani, Naisarg Vanani, Owen Voorhees, James Walker, Eric Wan, Ruoqi Wei, Matthew Yeh and James Zhou.

According to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, the semifinalists will have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,400 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 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. About 90 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, with about half of the finalists winning a National Merit Scholarship.

National Merit Scholarship winners of 2016 will be announced in four groups beginning in April and concluding in July.