12 Hudson County Teens Are National Merit Scholar Semifinalists

HUDSON COUNTY, NJ — Each year, high-achieving students in each New Jersey high school look excitedly to see if they're among the semifinalists who will get to compete for a college scholarship of $2,000 per year or more.

The National Merit Scholarship Program creates a list each fall of thousands of students nationwide who scored well on the PSAT during their junior years. After students submit grades and other information, they're narrowed down to a group of finalists who get the chance to win the no-strings-attached scholarships.

On Sept. 11, the National Merit Scholarship Board released its new list of semifinalists.

As it turns out, 13 students at high schools in Jersey City, Hoboken, Union City, and other towns will compete for $2,000 a year toward college.

They will now undergo a very competitive application process to try to become a finalist and a scholarship winners. The winners are normally not announced until May.

This year, McNair High School in Jersey City, a magnet school, had six semifinalists. St. Peter's Prep had two, Kearny had one, High Tech High School had one, and Union City's Jose Marti STEM Academy.

The semifinalists:

Hoboken High School

Madison Walia Peters

Jersey City, McNair High School

Alvaran, Caleb Laur
Kiran, Samarth
Krishnakumar, Arjun
Malhotra, Prisha
Maskey, Vardaan
Misra, Shrestha

Jersey City, St. Peter's Preparatory School

Gerstenbluth, Gavin R.
Oh, Jean

Kearny High School

Ouali, Saffia

High Tech High School

Hsu, Derek

Union City, Jose Marti STEM Academy

Cervantes, Julio

See the list of Bergen County semifinalists here.

Read more about the program here.