Osseo Area Schools ISD 279: Maple Grove Senior High's Christina Zhu Named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist

Press release from the Osseo Area Schools ISD 279:

September 16, 2021

The 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program announced Semifinalists this week and Crimson scholar Christina Zhu is among the honorees.

Zhu is part of a nationwide pool of Semifinalists that represents less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors: the highest-scoring entrants on the 2020 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

Semifinalists demonstrated an outstanding academic record throughout high school, were endorsed and recommended by a high school official, wrote an essay and earned SAT scores that confirmed their earlier performance on the qualifying test.

At Maple Grove Senior High, Zhu is not just a standout in the classroom; she is also a member of the cross-country team and will play violin in the pit orchestra for this year's Crimson fall musical. She is involved in Bring Change to Mind, a club at Maple Grove Senior that works to address the negative stigma associated with mental health. In the fall, she plans to attend a four year college or university to study computer science and linguistics.

Zhu has an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $30 million that will be offered next spring. Congratulations!

This press release was produced by the Osseo Area Schools ISD 279. The views expressed here are the author’s own.