31 Great Neck Students Named 2022 National Merit Semifinalists

GREAT NECK, NY — Thirty-one high school students from Great Neck have been named semifinalists in the 67th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

The teens are among the 16,000 semifinalists nationwide announced Wednesday who will have the opportunity to advance in the competition to earn scholarships worth nearly $30 million.

About 15,000 of those semifinalists are expected to advance to finalist standing, and over half of the finalists will win National Merit Scholarships next spring.

Here are the students from Great Neck who have achieved semifinalist status:

• Amaar Alwani, Great Neck South
• Karly Chan, Great Neck South
• Rena Chen, Great Neck South
• Iris Cho, Great Neck South
• Farah Daredia, Great Neck South
• Amy He, Great Neck South
• Sophia Hunter, Great Neck South
• Eden Katz, Great Neck South
• Jeremy Kotlyar, Great Neck South
• Andre Lungu, Great Neck South
• Matthew Moy, Great Neck South
• Matthew Tsui, Great Neck South
• Alexander Voses, Great Neck South
• Isabel Wang, Great Neck South
• Katherine Wang, Great Neck South
• Ross Williams, Great Neck South
• Jansen Wong, Great Neck South
• Mengyu Wu, Great Neck South
• John Xie, Great Neck South
• Rick Xu, Great Neck South
• Erin Yim, Great Neck South
• Victoria Guan, Great Neck North
• Shifan He, Great Neck North
• Joshua Li, Great Neck North
• Claire Luo, Great Neck North
• Brandon Maher, Great Neck North
• Maya Slobin, Great Neck North
• Alicia Sun, Great Neck North
• Sahar Tartak, Great Neck North
• Kenneth Xiao, Great Neck North
• David Zeng, Great Neck North

To be considered for an award, 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. Students must also write an essay and be endorsed by a high school official.

There are three kinds of scholarships finalists will compete for — corporate-sponsored, college or university-sponsored, and National Merit Scholarship Corporation awards.

Around 1,000 corporate-sponsored scholarships will be provided by about 220 corporations and business organizations for students who meet their criteria (e.g. being a child of an employee at the sponsoring business).

Some 180 colleges and universities are expected to fund about 4,100 awards for finalists who will attend their school. And the National Merit Scholarship Corporation's own $2,500 scholarships will be awarded to 2,500 students on a state-representational basis.

Winners will be announced in four groups between April and July 2022. These scholarship recipients will join more than 362,000 other young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.