8 More Hudson Valley Students Receive 2024 National Merit Awards

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — More of the region's residents have won National Merit Scholarships, the NMSC announced Monday.

This is the fourth round of this year's announcements. On April 24, six recipients of corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards were named. In May, Merit Scholars were announced. On June 5, the first round of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship winners was released.

• Rian Kelmendi, Briarcliff High School. Probable career field: Biology. NATIONAL MERIT UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA SCHOLARSHIP
• Thomas Rusk, Marlboro Central High School. Probable career field: Advertising. NATIONAL MERIT BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Cameron D. Kidde of Mount Kisco. Horace Greeley High School. Probable career field: Physics. NATIONAL MERIT BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Matthew Joseph Treanor, Pearl River High School. Probable career field: Computer Programming. NATIONAL MERIT RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE SCHOLARSHIP
• Bhavani Gopalkrishna, Edgemont High School. Probable career field: Psychiatry. NATIONAL MERIT CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Alexander B. Rizk, Scarsdale High School. Probable career field: Computer Engineering. NATIONAL MERIT PURDUE UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Cayden Yang, Scarsdale High School. Probable career field: Computer Science. NATIONAL MERIT PURDUE UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Jonell L. Henriques of Yonkers, Cardinal Spellman High School. Probable career field: Biochemistry. NATIONAL MERIT FORDHAM UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP

High school juniors entered the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants.

In September 2023, more than 16,000 Semifinalists were designated on a state-representational basis in numbers proportional to each state’s percentage of the national total of graduating high school seniors. Semifinalists were the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and represented less than one percent of the nation’s seniors.

To be considered for a National Merit Scholarship, Semifinalists had to fulfill requirements to advance to Finalist standing. Each Semifinalist was asked to complete a detailed scholarship application, which included writing an essay and providing information about extracurricular activities, awards, and leadership positions. Semifinalists also had to have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and earn SAT® or ACT® scores that confirmed their qualifying test performance.

From the Semifinalist group, over 15,000 met Finalist requirements.

They were selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors, who appraised a substantial amount of information submitted by both the Finalists and their high schools: the academic record, including difficulty level of subjects studied and grades earned; scores from the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®); contributions and leadership in school and community activities; an essay written by the finalist; and a recommendation written by a high school official.