Students In Potomac Named 2023 National Merit Scholar Semifinalists

POTOMAC, MD — Seniors from Winston Churchill High School, Bullis School and The Heights School in Potomac will be eligible for National Merit Scholarships in 2023 after being named semifinalists.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation named over 16,000 semifinalists Wednesday for its competitive scholarship program in 2023. The annual program awards scholarships to top-performing high school seniors to continue their studies in an undergraduate program.

Semifinalists represent less than 1 percent of high school seniors in the U.S.Semifinalists were chosen based on the highest-scoring students on the 2021 Preliminary SAT.

The students were chosen in proportion to each U.S. state's share of graduating seniors. Semifinalists will have the chance to apply to be named finalists and win National Merit Scholarships in 2023.

Winston Churchill High School semifinalists are:

• Cheng, Joshua R.
• Chung, Anthony T.
• Dogan, Ilayda
• Fan, Allison O.
• Huang, Emily
• Li, Nathan X.
• Liu, Jason L.
• Mehta, Tej
• Messali, Roman P.
• Qi, Kevin
• Shao, Yucheng J.
• Shenker, Elyssa L.
• Wang, Elton T.
• Wu, Nathaniel L.
• Yao, Eric
• Ye, Maxwell Z.
• Yu, Andrew B.
• Zhou, Todd Y.

Bullis School semifinalist is:

• Zwa, Ronan K.

The Heights School semifinalists are:

• Breinig, Ishaan C.
• Todd, Charles G.

About 15,000 semifinalists are expected to advance to finalist standing in February 2023.

Approximately 7,250 of them will win National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28 million next spring. To be considered as a finalist, semifinalists must submit a detailed scholarship application with information about the student's academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. The semifinalists must also earn SAT or ACT scores reinforcing their PSAT performance, write an essay and receive a recommendation from a high school official.

Merit Scholars are chosen based on their skills, accomplishments and potential for success in rigorous academic studies. There are three types of National Merit Scholarships: the corporations' own National Merit $2500 Scholarships, corporate-sponsored scholarships, and college and university-sponsored scholarships. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation will give out 2,500 scholarships on a state-representational basis. About 950 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be given by corporations and businesses who meet criteria, such as children of employees or students living in areas where offices are located. About 2,800 college-sponsored awards will be given to finalists attending the sponsoring institution.

The 2023 winners will be announced from April to July 2023.

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