8 Huntington-Area Students Named National Merit Semifinalists

Eight seniors from four Huntington-area high schools are among 16,000 students across the country who have been named semifinalists in the 63rd annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

Students from Huntington, Walt Whitman, Harborfields, Cold Spring Harbor and St. Anthony's high schools. received this honor.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation made the announcement on Wednesday.

Congrats to the semifinalists:

Walt Whitman High School

• Joshua L. Joseph
• Kentaro Matsushima
• Joseph N. Van Gostein

Huntington High School

• Aidan Forbes

Harborfields High School

• Emma G. Johnston

Cold Spring Harbor High School

• Danielle I. D'Alonzo
• Amani K. Morell
• Mahon M. Walsh

These high school seniors will move on through the competition to possibly earn 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth about $32 million that will be handed out next spring.

To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition.

About 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program and were screened based on their 2016 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test scores.

These semifinalists represent less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors. About 15,000 semifinalists are expected to advance to the finalist level. Merit Scholars will be announced in February.

File photo