9 Nashua Students Are 2023 National Merit Semifinalists

NASHUA, NH —Nine Nashua high school students, representing three high schools, were among the seniors named as National Merit Scholarship semifinalists on Wednesday, putting them in a position to land college grants in the spring of 2023.

Nashua South's Matthew Alex, Aditya Bakshi, Nicholas Chung, Jahnavi Palarapu and Jason Zhu, Bishop Guertin's Seo Young Lee, Sabrina Sterrett and Qingning Wang, and Academy for Science and Design's Agnieszka Calkowska are among the over 16,000 students in the U.S., including dozens in New Hampshire, to earn spots as semifinalists after taking placement tests last spring.

These academically talented high school seniors now have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,250 National Merit Scholarships — worth nearly $28 million — that will be offered next spring.

To become a finalist, semifinalists 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, write an essay, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm the student's earlier performance on the qualifying test.

From the over 16,000 semifinalists, more than 15,000 are expected to advance to the finalist level in February.

All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from that group.

Finalists will be eligible for three types of scholarships: grants funded by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation; ones funded by local corporations; and scholarships funded by colleges and universities. Those awards will be revealed between April and July 2023.

Some prizes provide stipends worth $1,000 to $10,000 renewable each academic year, and other prizes offer a single payment between $2,500 and $5,000.