Clarkstown Announces National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists

Ten Clarkstown North and South high school students received some of the highest scores in New York State for entry into the Program (NMSP), which is an academic competition.  According to NMSP, “High school students enter the National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®)–a test which serves as an initial screen of more than 1.5 million entrants each year–and by meeting published program entry/participation requirements.”

The following Clarkstown students have been named as semifinalists in the 2012 National Merit Scholarship Competition:

• North High School: Robert Chen, Robert Duggan, Ethan Santore and Matthew Sheinman
• South High School: Jonathan C. Day, Brian P. Foley, Shadrach T. Hepner, Andrew Kim, Junbo Liu and Sarah L. Mistele.

17 district students were ranked as Commended Students in the 2012 National Merit Scholarship Competition. They are:

• North High School: Sanju Bose, Daniel DeSarlo, Jacob Greenberg, Steven Kats, Ellen Kulungara, Apurva Parikh, Nicole Schachman and Danielle Zolit
• South High School: Lauren E. Altman, Max N. Gendler, David M. Lee, Victoria Lopez, Alvin P. Mathew, Rohan Patel, Arven L. Rulona, Rachel E. Weber and Erik K. Zalite.

About a million and a half students take the PSAT and approximately 50,000 of them qualify for recognition as a Commended Student or Semifinalist. There are a total of 16,000 Semifinalists in the 57th National Merit Scholarship Program. Semifinalists advance to Finalist status by meeting high academic standards and other requirements.

Learn more about the National Merit Scholarship Program.