National Merit 2024: LA County scholarship semifinalists announced

14.09.2023 23:43

DailyNews.com

Semifinalists in the 2024 National Merit Scholarship program are hopeful to be among the finalists to win scholarship funds next year. In the file photo, graduates wait to receive their degrees during Los Angeles Mission College’s 48th annual commencement ceremony at the the school’s Sylmar campus, June 6 2023. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced on Wednesday, Sept. 13, its 2024 list of semifinalist high school students who will now compete for a share of about 7,140 scholarships worth almost $28 million. Winners will be announced nationally between April and July next year. This is the 69th annual competition.

High school juniors, 11th graders, in the United States entered the academic competition by taking the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. More than 1.3 million juniors, in about 21,000 high schools, entered the competition by taking the qualifying test.

The highest-scoring students in each state represent the pool of semifinalists who, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, represent less than 1% of United States high school seniors.

The next step for a semifinalist to become a finalist is to complete the required application that includes their SAT or ACT scores, an essay and a letter of recommendation by a high school official.

Finalists are then chosen on the basis of academic record, their participation in community and school activities, how they have demonstrated leadership ability, employment, awards and honors received.

From a group of about 16,000 semifinalists, an expected 15,000 advance to finalists. Students are notified in February 2024 if they are finalists and about half of those win a scholarship from three categories.

The categories of scholarships: National Merit $2500 Scholarships; corporate-sponsored scholarships; college-sponsored scholarships.

The National Merit Scholarship winners, chosen on the basis of accomplishments, skills and potential for college success, are selected from the February finalists group. Winners are notified, on a rolling basis, in 2024 from April to July.

The 2024 scholarship winners join the nearly 375,000 past winners who have earned the title of Merit Scholar.

Here is the list of semifinalists in the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program in Los Angeles County by school location and the school name:

Agoura Hills

Agoura Hills HS

Calvin O. Ring

Alhambra

Alhambra HS

Raymond S. Wang

Mark Keppel HS

Austin Y. Chu
Kayla R. Kamei
Eva M. Wong

Arcadia

Arcadia HS

Cheng, Isaac
Hongji Dai
Casey R. Kim
Kaitlyn A. Kwan
Caroline J. Li
Jeffery Oo
Steven H. Shi
Philip Tan
William Wong
Felicia Ye
Katelyn A. Yu

Beverly Hills

Beverly Hills HS

Lucas S. Eskildsen-Lee

Burbank

Burbank HS

Sanjay Dhamodharan

Burroughs HS

Samuel R. Svonkin

Calabasas

Calabasas HS

Zachary A. Davis
Zachary C. Piesner

Viewpoint School

Daniyar H. Ali
Avrick H. Altmann
Alivia K. Alva
Julianna H. Hughes
Kaylyn S. Robertson
William Yao

Carson

California Academy of Mathematics and Science

Samantha Chang
Kyle Huang
Hiroaki Shiraishi
Emma Zhong

Castaic

Castaic HS

Colton T. Kim

Cerritos

Gretchen Whitney HS

Shriya Bidani
Cao, Steven Cao
Michael A. Fedorov
Perry Han
Roseline Kim
Megan S. Lee
Jeffrey Liao
Caleb J. Pong
Darshan K. Powers
Vaishnavi Sam
Nairrit Sengupta
Sid M. Shah
Ellie Ta
Titus L. Taing
Shawn Wang
Evelyn L. Yao
Tad Yoon
Ruizhi Zhang

Chatsworth

Chatsworth HS

Arnav A. Dangre

Sierra Canyon School

Katie T. Anderson
Alexander Bai
Dylan R. Ochoa

Claremont

Claremont HS

Jocelyn C. Chang

Vivian Webb School

Aiperi R. Bush
Eleanor H. Hong
Emily Y. Li
Zongying Li
Mirabel E. Raphael
Jiaqi Wang

Webb School of California

Connor L. Keeney
Xiaojun Pan
Hanming Zeng
Zhehao Zhang

Culver City

Culver City HS

Penn Carbo
Julia R. Marcus

Diamond Bar

Diamond Bar HS

Jennifer M. Cheng
Himansi Gupta
Michael Hu
Angel D. Huang
Jeremiah W. Jung
Erdaifu Luo
Owen Ma
Felix Peng
Emily Ren
Dave D. Zheng
Natalie Zhou
Michelle Zou

El Segundo

Da Vinci Science HS

Josiah Fu

El Segundo HS

Daniel T. Tritasavit

Vistamar School

Justin R. Huebner
Jake A. Yun

Glendale

Glendale HS

Karo Boyajyan

Glendora

Glendora HS

Edward Huang
Daniel Wang

Granada Hills

Granada Hills Charter HS

Zainab H. Alatya
Jeremy Alexander
Patrick A. Badere
Michael L. Dalva
Aayushi Garg
Matthew R. Krzewinski
Claudia H.Shin
Douglas W. Verneer

Hacienda Heights

Glen A Wilson HS

Halo K. Kwok

Hermosa Beach

Homeschool

Grace F. Ivancich

La Cañada Flintridge

Flintridge Preparatory School

Aidan Chao
Maylin Chen
Chloe I. Chong
Marissa A. Cotte
Austin Hong
Kayla Lee
Lucy Liu
Warren Nam
Daniel Zhao

Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy

Jianing Xu

La Cañada HS

Chelsea M. Brack
Blake S. Chang
Rachel Choi
Neal S. Frankenberg
Cameron M. Hong
Dylan F. Jeffries
Joonha Lee
Matthew Y. Park
Marius L. Rutkowski
Andrew C. Smersfel
Thomas A. Sorensen
Emmi Sugino
Sonal K. Sukhatme

La Crescenta

Clark Magnet HS

Ibrahim Ahmed

Crescenta Valley HS

Haik Isaiants
David Kahdian
Nathan Lee
Debayon Roy

Long Beach

Long Beach Polytechnic HS

Matthew T. Long

Los Angeles

The Archer School for Girls

Camila Blank

Brentwood School

Toby E. Kinberg
Beckett T. O’Brien
William Varnum
Ryan Wirtschafter

Geffen Academy at UCLA

Hugo C. Chiasson
Christopher C. Jun
Natalie F. Kruglyak
James Lee-South
Jeremy A. Steiglitz

Girls Academic Leadership Academy

Maya L. Henry

Larchmont Charter HS

Jayden Choi
Rayhan Y. Haque
Ethan H. Kim

Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies

Leilani E. Krantz
Kylie M. Monterosso
Taizo Nakayama

Loyola HS

Daniel H. Bang
Nimish Baweja
Aaron M. Jimenez

Marlborough School

Violet Affleck
Hope Lee
Wyeth Renwick

Milken Community School

Benjamin B. Signer

New West Charter School

Owen H. Grossman

UCLA Community School

Paolo Roque B. Villa

Woodrow Wilson HS

Anyi Tan

Windward School

Jemma M. Beardmore
Rex V. Gavsie
Zachary J. Gottlieb
Matthew R. Sani
Jude R. St. John

Yula Boys HS

Benjamin M. Karben

Malibu

Malibu HS

Athena M. Rem

Manhattan Beach

Mira Costa HS

Kina M. Desai
Veronica A. Fish
Charles A. Hiatt
William M. Kiely
Naomi S. Kim
Adam W. Manasfi
Mia J. Roman-Wilson

Newhall

William S. Hart HS

Luke A. Kuhlman

North Hollywood

North Hollywood HS

Boheng Cao
Jack R. Dobbs
Rishabh Garg
Oscar J. Kohler
Stanley Z. Li
Alexander W. Werth

Science Academy Stem Magnet

Andrew J. Palchevskiy
Dylan H. Rainman

Pacific Palisades

Palisades Charter HS

Kai S. Harting
Ellery M. Preven
Carter R. Yean
Olivia T. Zaidel
Dominic X. Zuniga

Palos Verdes Estates

Palos Verdes HS

Cayden Cooper
Naomi Gan
Clarence Y. Lin
Mark Y. Lin
Christine Xie

Palos Verdes Peninsula

Chadwick School

Raina J. Jo

Pasadena

Maranatha HS

Hanzhi Liu

Marshall Fundamental HS

Ian Timberg

Pasadena HS

Teresa C. Carbone
Elias M. Gee

Polytechnic HS

Sharon Chou
Luke Haenisch
Jeffrey Y. Liu
Brendan Poon
Yagura, Kaylin Yagura

Westridge School

Cho, Lauren H. Cho
Anna E. Kleindorfer
Rachel A. Kong
Sofie V. Wong

Redondo Beach

Redondo Union HS

Madeline J. Langa
Daniel Rosado
Amy Saffer
Riley S. Williams

Rolling Hills Estates

Palos Verdes Peninsula HS

Oliver H. Ahern
Nerissa A. Chin
Andy J. Gu
Devin Y. Lai
Kevin Y. Lai
Nathan J. Leung
Jonathan L. Lin
Zhixin Liu
Paul T. Martin
Austin B. Pong
Arthur V. Qin
Leia M. Spagnola
Brian Q. Wang
Hooman Zabihi

Rowland Heights

John A. Rowland HS

Lee, Benjamin Lee
Allen J. Li
Aidan Pan

San Marino

San Marino HS

Melody Chen
Kathy Jia
Ruoxin Jia
Ching Lam Ma
Ingrid Wu
Ryder Yoshitake

Santa Clarita

Academy of the Canyons

Jain, Aditya
Noah S. Kim
Vela K. Reynolds

Santa Monica

Crossroads School

Gabriel W. Evers
Ashley E. Stutsman
Beckett T. Yi

Santa Monica HS

Milo C. Bernini
Justin J. Xu

Sherman Oaks

The Buckley School

Maxim Sarkar

South Pasadena

South Pasadena HS

Ada P. Bild
Aidan K. Jackson
Geeyou Lee
Truman T. Lindenthaler
Alexander Y. Ninomiya
Linus R. Sun
Katherine W. Tam

Studio City

Bridges Academy

Leo Apps
Adam R. Sohigian

Harvard-Westlake School

Kriste J. An
Emily P. Ba
Morgan J. Beckerman
Arin Budhiraja
Spencer D. Casamassima
David Chen
Katie Chen
Ryan Z. Cheng
Luke C. Collins
Leo Z. Craig
Kaito M. De Anda
Aidan H. Deshong
Cecelia K. Do
Haruka S. Endo
Derek L. Esrailian
Weston B. Fuchs
Oren E. Hartstein
Christopher Headley
Phoebe M. Hsu
Owen R. Huang
Fiona S. Kim
Ian B. Kim
Do Hyeong Lee
Maxwell Y. Lee
Sabrina G. Liu
Rustom J. Malhotra
Jackson A. Mayer
Chloe S. Park
Grady C. Ramberg
Benjamin W. Ren
Christopher S. Robertson
Sophia Z. Vourakis
Christopher R. Weng
Andrew Wesel

Tarzana

Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies

Sunny Y. Cai

Temple City

Temple City HS

Jasmine Liu
Keilana H. Pang
Ellen Y. Tang
Borui Yin

Torrance

South HS

Sydney J. Cho
Katherine L. Gloyer

Torrance HS

Kevin S. Sohn

West HS

Minah Shin

Valencia

West Ranch HS

Anish Banala
Brennan T. Leem
George Ma

Van Nuys

Van Nuys HS

Brian Sang

Venice

Venice HS

Krishan A. Gupta-Garcia

Walnut

Walnut HS

Sham, Dylan W. Sham
Phillip Tang
Aron Wu

Westlake Village

Oaks Christian HS

Hayden N. Andersson
Soren Jensen

Westlake HS

Benjamin Francis
Jai Garg
Max Lim
Ariana Liu
Arwen Louie
Kiersten A. Roth
Alan Shi
Nicholas Tjoa
Miriam Tong
Hunter Wang
Emily J. Wu

Woodland Hills

William Howard Taft HS

Saketh R. Vennela

High school students interested in applying in future years need to talk to their school counselor to make arrangements to take the PSAT/NMSQT test. Registration is through the high school and not by the students. For information on the competition, tinyurl.com/mrx4t933

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation was established in 1955 and is an independent, not-for-profit group that does not operate with government assistance.

The goals of the organization are to reward academically-dedicated students, encourage academic excellence at all levels of education, promote a deeper respect for learning in general and to encourage individuals and organizations to sponsor scholarships. nationalmerit.org