NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP CORPORATION

1560 Sherman Avenue, Suite 200, Evanston, Illinois 60201-4897 (847) 866-5100

SEMIFINALISTS IN THE 2018

NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
September 13, 2017 Announcement

Contact: Eileen Artemakis or Matthew Budreau Phone: (847) 866-5100

Public Information Email: mediainfo@nmerit.net
Website: www.nationalmerit.org

Advance: For release on Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Note to editors: Semifinalists in your state are listed alphabetically by city and
high school following this press release.
This material is prepared solely for news media to announce the names of
Semifinalists; its use for any other purpose is prohibited.

Caution: Using numbers of Semifinalists to compare high schools, educational systems, or

states will result in erroneous conclusions. The National Merit Scholarship Program honors
individual students who show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous
college studies. The program does not measure the quality or effectiveness of education within a
school, system, or state. For more information about the competition, please visit NMSCs website
at www.nationalmerit.org.

Semifinalists in the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program

(Evanston, Illinois) Today officials of National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC)

announced the names of approximately 16,000 Semifinalists in the 63rd annual National Merit
Scholarship Program. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to
continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32
million that will be offered 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 90 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and about half
of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.

NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was

established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 420 business
organizations and higher education institutions that share NMSCs goals of honoring the nations
scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.

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Semifinalists in the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program

Steps in the 2018 Competition

About 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2018 National Merit
Scholarship Program by taking the 2016 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying
Test (PSAT/NMSQT ), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool
of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-
scoring entrants in each state. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportional to the states
percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

To become a Finalist, the Semifinalist and his or her high school must submit a detailed
scholarship application, in which they provide information about the Semifinalists academic record,
participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment,
and honors and awards received. A Semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record through-
out high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn
SAT scores that confirm the students earlier performance on the qualifying test.

From the approximately 16,000 Semifinalists, about 15,000 are expected to advance
to the Finalist level, and in February they will be notified of this designation. All National Merit
Scholarship winners will be selected from this group of Finalists. Merit Scholar designees are
selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college
studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference.
National Merit Scholarships
Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2018.
Every Finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit $2500 Scholarships that will be
awarded on a state-representational basis. About 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship
awards will be provided by approximately 230 corporations and business organizations for
Finalists who meet their specified criteria, such as children of the grantors employees or residents
of communities where sponsor plants or offices are located. In addition, about 190 colleges and
universities are expected to finance some 4,000 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards
for Finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.

National Merit Scholarship winners of 2018 will be announced in four nationwide news
releases beginning in April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join more
than 330,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.

# # #

National Merit, Merit Scholarship, Merit Scholar, and the corporate Lamp of Learning logo are federally registered service marks of
National Merit Scholarship Corporation. PSAT/NMSQT is a registered trademark of National Merit Scholarship Corporation and the College Board.
SAT is a registered trademark of the College Board.
Semifinalists: 2018 National
Merit Scholarship Program
NEVADA
BOULDER CITY
BOULDER CITY H. S.
121 Snow, Erica N.
HENDERSON
CORONADO H. S.
162 Bevilacqua, Lucia F.
303 Blackhurst, Simon C.
455 Cutler, Alexander M.
103 Czyzyk, Austin M.
450 Damiani, Jack S.
450 Dougherty, John J.
833 Gutterman, Timothy A.
430 Miller, Caytlin N.
999 Scow, Samuel C.
619 Yuen, Alexandrea N.
FOOTHILL H. S.
200 Hayashi, David
GREEN VALLEY H. S.
741 Balasky, Alexander D.
619 Ballardini, Megan R.
168 Li, Casey A.
999 Rawlins, Kayla
791 Sorkhab, Drake L.
HOMESCHOOL
999 Root, Hudson F.
INCLINE VILLAGE
INCLINE H. S.
628 Saxe, Madeleine C.
LAS VEGAS MESQUITE
THE ADELSON SCHOOL
451 De Castro, Matthiew
ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES MINDEN
ACADEMY
300 Chang, Winnie W.
303 Espinoza, Fernando M.
300 Green, Ian M. RENO
940 Lim, Therese-Mae C.
303 Walker, Adam L.
160 Wang, Yinghan
999 Yi, Ryu C.
EDWARD W. CLARK H. S.
164 Castle, Denise M.
837 Crouch, Davis M.
710 DeBelen, Gabrielle M.
628 Desai, Jay
628 Devati, Anish S.
161 DiFulvio, Samantha
743 Golonka, Sean P.
628 Hand, Benjamin G.
160 Jones, Liam M.
303 Kuo, Aaron J.
830 McNeil, Tara N.
160 Pasimio, Michael V.
904 Pearl, Trevor J.
999 Perez, Casey Mae I.
451 Pickett, Tyler J.
000 Reddy, Rathna
200 Shen, Matthew D.
451 Stewart, James
209 Tomov, Stefan S.
450 Tranakiev, Nikolay N.
209 Wang, Ammie Y.
501 Wang, Andrew
628 Yi, Alisha M.
COLLEGE OF SOUTHERN NEVADA
H. S. - WEST
999 Turk, Jaxson E.
DESERT OASIS H. S.
459 Sadama, Tyler
FAITH LUTHERAN H. S.
999 Choo, Joseph
628 Little, Ryan M.
450 Vancura, Mary F.
NORTH STAR ONLINE SCHOOL
740 Toller, Alexander C.
RENO H. S.
000 Taylor, Reese
SAGE RIDGE SCHOOL
160 Kim, Noel L.
BISHOP GORMAN H. S. TRUCKEE MEADOWS COMMUNITY
000 Lee, Hanna COLLEGE H. S.
450 Dutt, Katrina C.
MEADOWS SCHOOL 948 Perez-McKay, Ana D.
559 Anderson, Celia A.
EARL WOOSTER H. S.
162 Hansen, Lindsay T.
161 Ndubisi, Jeffrey 450 Dailey, Joseph A.
553 Ocampo, Joshua 450 Quick, Hannah M.
900 Ream, Garrison J. 742 Shaver, Ryan K.
200 Stone, Jesse R.
NORTHWEST CAREER AND
TECHNICAL ACADEMY
467 Chauhan, Apoorva S.
160 Duddy, Gordon H.
PALO VERDE H. S.
000 Lee, Branden
742 Nagy, Shaan A.
SIERRA VISTA H. S.
160 Chio, Eric S.
SILVERADO H. S.
710 McCarty, James G.
SOUTHEAST CAREER
TECHNICAL ACADEMY
417 Walker, Sierra
WEST CAREER AND
TECHNICAL ACADEMY
211 Goldsmith, Trevor D.
303 Johns, Garrett R.
501 Lee, Justin S.
628 Soni, Abhishek
628 Yang, Shan Shan
VIRGIN VALLEY H. S.
000 Cox, Kameron B.
DOUGLAS H. S.
466 Dunkelman, Sean D.
CORAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCE
303 Angres, Daniel T.
THE DAVIDSON ACADEMY
OF NEVADA
854 Angres, Gabriel J.
450 Bauer, David
301 Bauer, Matthew S.
161 Brilliant, Lauren E.
999 Brown, Ryan P.
843 Harkness, Melinda K.
451 Hong, Ian C.
843 Leitner, Oliver T.
740 Lu, Ethan Y.
999 MacHarg, Sarah L.
904 Nanda, Pranit
772 Noonen, Isabella N.
870 Oh, Nikolai T.
463 Patel, Aman J.
999 Shinagawa, Courtney K.
303 Slater, Maxwell J.
185 Travella-Walker, Tayla J.
GALENA H. S.
950 Ghusn, Benjamin
HOMESCHOOL
619 Crook, Rianna J.
PROCTER R. HUG H. S.
999 Guerrieri, Peter J.
BISHOP MANOGUE CATHOLIC H. S.
000 Bond, Robert P.
000 Crow, Maxwell H.
000 Fyda, Thomas J.
000 Heflin, Parker
000 Stadler, Nicholaus L.
ROBERT MC QUEEN H. S.
741 Rosenow, Azara K.