Students From Chester Head To Next Round In National Merit Scholarship Program

CHESTER, NJ — About 16,000 students were announced on Wednesday as semi-finalists in the 2022 National Merit Scholarship Program, with two from Chester who are students at Morris Hills High School among them.

Sara K. Kuzhikandathil and Gavin M. Tomasco, who are both enrolled in the Academy for Math, Science and Engineering at Morris Hills High School in Rockaway, were two of the students throughout the country chosen as semi-finalists in the program, after taking the 2020 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying test as juniors.

According to the program, the semi-finalists represent under one percent of high school seniors in the country.

This now opens chances for Kuzhikandathil and Tomasco to be in the running for two of the 7,500 National Merit Scholarships, which will be awarded in Spring 2022, the total scholarship pool worth $30 million.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation, a non-profit that runs the scholarship program, estimates that approximately 95 percent of the semi-finalists are expected to reach the “finalist” level, with half of them eventually receiving a National Merit Scholarship.

The corporation marks its 67th National Merit Scholarship Program this year, having given away 362,000 Merit Scholarships since 1955.

The next steps for Kuzhikandathil and Tomasco is for each to submit a scholarship application with a representative from their high school, which will detail academic records, employment, school activities, leadership roles and other factors. In addition to the endorsement from the school official and further information submitted, Kuzhikandathil and Tomasco will both need to pen essays to accompany their applications; and “earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test,” according to the scholarship organizers.

In the spring of 2022, there will be 2,500 National Merit $2,500 Scholarships “awarded on a state-representational basis.” Of 1,000 corporate-sponsored scholarships, 200 corporations or business organizations will award scholarships based on specific criteria. Close to 180 universities and colleges additionally plan to give away 4,000 scholarships to students that commit to their school.

All of the scholarship recipients are expected to be announced between April and July 2022.

Questions or comments about this story? Have a news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.