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These Long Island HS Students Named 2021 National Merit Semifinalists

Some of Long Island’s best and brightest students were among those chosen as semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program, which celebrates the academic achievements of high schoolers.

National Merit Scholars

National Merit Scholars

Photo Credit: National Merit Scholars

This week, 16,000 high school seniors were chosen from around the country as semifinalists, who are vying for 7,600 scholarships totaling more than $30 million that will be announced in the spring.

To become a finalist, semifinalists and an official from their high school must submit a detailed scholarship application that provides information about the students’ academic record, participation in school and community activities, leadership abilities, employment, awards and honors received.

Semifinalists will also have to write an essay and receive an endorsement from a high school official.

According to National Merit School Program officials, more than 1.5 million juniors in 21,000 high schools across the country entered the program. Of the 16,000 seniors that were named finalists, approximately 15,000 are expected to be named finalists.

National Merit semifinalists on Long Island competing for the scholarships: 

  • Connor Gibson - John F. Kennedy High School, Bellmore;
  • Stamatia Papazis - John F. Kennedy High School, Bellmore;
  • Kevin Woska - Carle Place High School, Carle Place;
  • Matthew Ross - Cold Spring Harbor High School, Cold Spring Harbor;
  • Kevin Chen - Commack High School, Commack;
  • Paul Park - Commack High School, Commack;
  • Catherine Tawadros - Commack High School, Commack;
  • Jordan Walsh - Commack High School, Commack;
  • Victoria Albanese - Half Hollow Hills High School East, Dix Hills;
  • Benjamin Goldfried - Half Hollow Hills High School East, Dix Hills;
  • Michael Han - Half Hollow Hills High School East, Dix Hills;
  • Kevin Hoxha - Half Hollow Hills High School East, Dix Hills;
  • Juliana Josinsky - Half Hollow Hills High School East, Dix Hills;
  • Dylan Keskinyan - Half Hollow Hills High School East, Dix Hills;
  • Sumaiyah Khwaja - Half Hollow Hills High School East, Dix Hills;
  • Richard Lin - Half Hollow Hills High School East, Dix Hills;
  • Jennifer Sachs - Half Hollow Hills High School East, Dix Hills;
  • Suraj Sharma - Half Hollow Hills High School East, Dix Hills;
  • Ashna Shetty - Half Hollow Hills High School East, Dix Hills;
  • Sohan Shetty - Half Hollow Hills High School East, Dix Hills;
  • Gianna Tantillo - Half Hollow Hills High School East, Dix Hills;
  • Jason Bruckner - Half Hollow Hills High School West, Dix Hills;
  • Simran Chaudhry - Half Hollow Hills High School West, Dix Hills;
  • Kyra Ramonetti - Half Hollow Hills High School West, Dix Hills;
  • Tucker Kabbaz - East Hampton High School, East Hampton;
  • Isabella Conti - East Meadow High School, East Meadow;
  • Patrick Donnelly - East Meadow High School, East Meadow;
  • Faiz Irshad - East Meadow High School, East Meadow;
  • Shruti Patel - East Meadow High School, East Meadow;
  • Rebecca Blumenthal - Ward Melville High School, East Setauket;
  • Cynthia Chen - Ward Melville High School, East Setauket;
  • Neil Mehta - Ward Melville High School, East Setauket;
  • Samara Silverman - Ward Melville High School, East Setauket;
  • Elizabeth Star - Ward Melville High School, East Setauket;
  • Nancy Zhong - Ward Melville High School, East Setauket;
  • Julia Zhu - Ward Melville High School, East Setauket;
  • Brennan Finnegan - John H. Glenn High School, Elwood;
  • Rithika Narayan - John H. Glenn High School, Elwood;
  • Natalie Machado - Sachem High School East, Farmingville;
  • Jacob Sinanan - Floral Park Memorial High School, Floral Park;
  • Ian Bailey - Garden City High School, Garden City;
  • Anteng Chen - Garden City High School, Garden City;
  • Ryan Padala - Garden City High School, Garden City;
  • Anthony Remick - Garden City High School, Garden City;
  • Lucia Martin - North Shore High School, Glen Head;
  • Yuna Ahn - Great Neck South High School, Great Neck;
  • Ryan Cho - Great Neck South High School, Great Neck;
  • Lukas Gandras - Great Neck South High School, Great Neck;
  • Kevin Gao - Great Neck South High School, Great Neck;
  • Bradley He - Great Neck South High School, Great Neck;
  • Brandon Huang - Great Neck South High School, Great Neck;
  • Ethan Jiang - Great Neck South High School, Great Neck;
  • Juny Kim - Great Neck South High School, Great Neck;
  • Kathryn Lee - Great Neck South High School, Great Neck;
  • Rini Lee - Great Neck South High School, Great Neck;
  • Albert Li - Great Neck South High School, Great Neck;
  • Zhu Liu - Great Neck South High School, Great Neck;
  • Grace Luo - Great Neck South High School, Great Neck;
  • David Mo - Great Neck South High School, Great Neck;
  • Daniel Moon - Great Neck South High School, Great Neck;
  • Elliot Shi - Great Neck South High School, Great Neck;
  • Nicholas Su - Great Neck South High School, Great Neck;
  • Nicholas Tung - Great Neck South High School, Great Neck;
  • David Wang - Great Neck South High School, Great Neck;
  • Mia Wang - Great Neck South High School, Great Neck;
  • Anthony Zhan - Great Neck South High School, Great Neck;
  • Jonathan Hakimi - Great Neck North High School, Great Neck;
  • Albert Jan - Great Neck North High School, Great Neck;
  • Mikaela Lipp - Great Neck North High School, Great Neck;
  • Alice Liu - Great Neck North High School, Great Neck;
  • Adam Sanders - Great Neck North High School, Great Neck;
  • Gracie Tropp-Levy - Great Neck North High School, Great Neck;
  • Lauren Yu - Great Neck North High School, Great Neck;
  • Michelle Zeng - Great Neck North High School, Great Neck;
  • Maya Bielawski - Harborfields High School, Greenlawn;
  • Ty Ellenbogen - Harborfields High School, Greenlawn;
  • Jacky Xie - Harborfields High School, Greenlawn;
  • Emma Vasilakopoulos - Hauppauge High School, Hauppauge;
  • Emily Cheesman - Sacred Heart Academy, Hempstead;
  • Sophia Fitzpatrick - Sacred Heart Academy, Hempstead;
  • Benjamin Choi - Hicksville High School, Hicksville;
  • Navpreet Singh - Hicksville High School, Hicksville;
  • Isabella Roccanova - Holy Trinity High School, Hicksville;
  • Andreas Seferian - Huntington High School, Huntington;
  • Aidan D. Garemani - Walt Whitman High School, Huntington Station
  • Alice Chen - Jericho High School, Jericho;
  • Andrew Chen - Jericho High School, Jericho;
  • Songyuan - Jericho High School, Jericho;
  • William Hu - Jericho High School, Jericho;
  • Dylan Huddleston - Jericho High School, Jericho;
  • Jayant Kaushik - Jericho High School, Jericho;
  • Ariel Kim - Jericho High School, Jericho;
  • Irene Lee - Jericho High School, Jericho;
  • Danny Li - Jericho High School, Jericho;
  • Joanne Li - Jericho High School, Jericho;
  • Julia Lin - Jericho High School, Jericho;
  • Leanne Lu - Jericho High School, Jericho;
  • Yuejia Ma - Jericho High School, Jericho;
  • Aadhithan Murugaveri - Jericho High School, Jericho;
  • Alyssa Paek - Jericho High School, Jericho;
  • Ryan Rahman - Jericho High School, Jericho;
  • Richard Ren - Jericho High School, Jericho;
  • Kartik Subramanian - Jericho High School, Jericho;
  • Vivian Wu - Jericho High School, Jericho;
  • Daniel You - Jericho High School, Jericho;
  • Judy Zhou - Jericho High School, Jericho;
  • Weslyn Cai - Kings Park High School, Kings Park;
  • Nistha Boghra - Sachem High School North, Lake Ronkonkoma;
  • Mili Das - Sachem High School North, Lake Ronkonkoma;
  • Jonathan Beer - Rambam Mesivta High School, Lawrence;
  • Chris Huang - Island Trees High School, Levittown;
  • Emily Zhang - General Douglas Macarthur High School, Levittown;
  • Maya Arengo - Long Beach High School, Lido Beach;
  • Uma Arengo - Long Beach High School, Lido Beach;
  • Tyler Collinson - Long Beach High School, Lido Beach;
  • Vimala Alagappan - Friends Academy, Locust Valley;
  • Emily Barosin - Locust Valley High School, Locust Valley;
  • Jenna Halpin - Locust Valley High School, Locust Valley;
  • Mir Zayid Alam - Manhasset High School, Manhasset;
  • Ava Balacek - Manhasset High School, Manhasset;
  • Joshua De Leeuw - Manhasset High School, Manhasset;
  • Taylor Fox - Manhasset High School, Manhasset;
  • Ben Glauner - Manhasset High School, Manhasset;
  • Noemie Gomes-Jourdan - Manhasset High School, Manhasset;
  • Ethan Horowitz - Manhasset High School, Manhasset;
  • Sanjna Kedia - Manhasset High School, Manhasset;
  • Sarah Kim - Manhasset High School, Manhasset;
  • Michael Raybetz - Manhasset High School, Manhasset;
  • Gwendolyn Seto - Manhasset High School, Manhasset;
  • Emma Wang - Manhasset High School, Manhasset;
  • Eric Wang - Manhasset High School, Manhasset;
  • Brendan Deneen - Massapequa High School, Massapequa;
  • Devin Dimascio - Massapequa High School, Massapequa;
  • Eleanor Hart - Patchogue-Medford High School, Medford;
  • Lucas Ahrens - Sanford H. Calhoun High School, Merrick;
  • Justin Y. Guo - Sanford H. Calhoun High School, Merrick;
  • Connor Doyle - Longwood High School, Middle Island;
  • Robert Lennon - Longwood High School, Middle Island;
  • Gavin Stumpf - Longwood High School, Middle Island;
  • John Roderick Cervantes - Chaminade High School, Mineola;
  • Callum Smith - Chaminade High School, Mineola;
  • Jane Chung - Herricks High School, New Hyde Park;
  • Jay Chung - Herricks High School, New Hyde Park;
  • Abhinav Goyal - Herricks High School, New Hyde Park;
  • Preethi Krishnamoorthy - Herricks High School, New Hyde Park;
  • Samuel Leung - Herricks High School, New Hyde Park;
  • Samantha Moy - Herricks High School, New Hyde Park;
  • Kyle Pinzon - Herricks High School, New Hyde Park;
  • Rhea Rasquinha - Herricks High School, New Hyde Park;
  • David Zhang - Herricks High School, New Hyde Park;
  • Samantha Green - Wellington C. Mepham High School, North Bellmore;
  • Tyler O'Neill - Wellington C. Mepham High School, North Bellmore;
  • Luke Andersen - Plainedge High School, North Massapequa;
  • Camden Burk - Northport High School, Northport;
  • Tara Damico - Northport High School, Northport;
  • Rudolph Mastrocinque - Northport High School, Northport;
  • Samantha Civil - Oceanside High School, Oceanside;
  • Matthew Friedman - Oceanside High School, Oceanside;
  • Rachel Weissman - Oceanside High School, Oceanside;
  • Anya Chabria - The Wheatley School, Old Westbury;
  • Layla Jarrahy - The Wheatley School, Old Westbury;
  • Nicholas Tardugno - Oyster Bay High School, Oyster Bay;
  • Elijah Blum - Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School, Plainview;
  • Ian Irushalmi - Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School, Plainview;
  • Ishanna Jhawar - Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School, Plainview;
  • Brian Lee - Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School, Plainview;
  • Dylan Rubin - Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School, Plainview;
  • Gani Ates - Earl L. Vandermeulen High School, Port Jefferson;
  • Grant Samara - Earl L. Vandermeulen High School, Port Jefferson;
  • Peggy Yin - Earl L. Vandermeulen High School, Port Jefferson;
  • Sydney Carter - Comsewogue High School, Port Jefferson Station;
  • Shayne Bersin - Paul D. Schreiber High School, Port Washington;
  • Issac Goldstein - Paul D. Schreiber High School, Port Washington;
  • Ryan Kessler - Paul D. Schreiber High School, Port Washington;
  • Mia Kurta - Paul D. Schreiber High School, Port Washington;
  • Jimin Lee - Paul D. Schreiber High School, Port Washington;
  • Noah Loewy - Paul D. Schreiber High School, Port Washington;
  • Rajen Parekh - Paul D. Schreiber High School, Port Washington;
  • Samantha Radinsky - Paul D. Schreiber High School, Port Washington;
  • Daniel Ruskin - Paul D. Schreiber High School, Port Washington;
  • Alexandra Salzman - Paul D. Schreiber High School, Port Washington;
  • Jacob Schorr - Paul D. Schreiber High School, Port Washington;
  • Nathaniel Senders - Paul D. Schreiber High School, Port Washington;
  • Gavin Shaub - Paul D. Schreiber High School, Port Washington;
  • Jeffrey Sung - Paul D. Schreiber High School, Port Washington;
  • Erik Tang - Paul D. Schreiber High School, Port Washington;
  • Avery VonRoeschlaub - Paul D. Schreiber High School, Port Washington;
  • Ashlynne Xavier - Rocky Point High School, Rocky Point;
  • Alexander Zaslavsky - Rocky Point High School, Rocky Point;
  • Ryan Chou - Roslyn High School, Roslyn Heights;
  • Julia Diamond - Roslyn High School, Roslyn Heights;
  • Grace Peng - Roslyn High School, Roslyn Heights;
  • Lindsey Russ - Roslyn High School, Roslyn Heights;
  • Ethan Wachsman - Roslyn High School, Roslyn Heights;
  • Kyle Mathew - Newfield High School, Selden;
  • Fiona Needham - Smithtown High School West, Smithtown;
  • Christina Unkenholz - Smithtown High School West, Smithtown;
  • Victoria Levy - St. Anthony's High School, South Huntington;
  • Andrew Mullan - St. Anthony's High School, South Huntington;
  • Wenxiao Men - Smithtown High School East, St. James;
  • William Akunevicz - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Arjun Chadha - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Stella Chen - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Evan Cheng - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Michael Chu - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Anoushka Dalvi - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Brian Gao - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Simran Goel - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Shreyas Goswami - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Esther Han - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Hamza Iqbal - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Alex Ji - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Michael Kopacz - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Joshua Langman - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Ariane Lee - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Borui Lu - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Michael Lu - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Angela Mao - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Jenny Ou - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Amanda Qian - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Giselle Rasquinha - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Jacob Rosenberg - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Trisha Sinha - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Nolan Smithwick - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Alexa Trapani - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Aayush Turakhia - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Emma Van Morn - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Eric Wang - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Lara Weinberg - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Max Yin - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Joshua Yun - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Kevin Zhao - Syosset High School, Syosset;
  • Margaret Gates - Wantagh High School, Wantagh;
  • Julia Fritsch - St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School, West Islip;
  • Dylan Houck - St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School, West Islip;
  • Amanda Ditaranto - West High School, West Islip;
  • Grace Urmaza - Sayville High School, West Sayville;
  • Justin J. Guo - W. Tresper Clarke High School, Westbury.

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