AAPS Congratulates 78 National Merit Semi-Finalists

The Ann Arbor Public Schools congratulates 78 students that have recently been named Semi-Finalists in the 2019 National Merit Scholarship Program, the largest number of Semi-Finalists named from any Michigan school district, and Ann Arbor’s Huron High School tied for first among all Michigan high schools for number of Semi-Finalists.

Ann Arbor Public Schools Superintendent, Dr. Jeanice Kerr Swift reports, ”We are extremely proud of our students who have achieved National Merit Semi-Finalist status. We recognize the effort it takes to master the range of subject areas tested and we applaud these Semi-Finalists for rising to the challenge and excelling. We also want to recognize and thank our teachers, at all grade levels, who are instrumental in preparing our students for this competition as well as our parents for their support of public education. We are fortunate to live in a community that values and celebrates academic achievement. Congratulations to all our scholars for this remarkable achievement.”

This year, the Ann Arbor Public Schools accounts for over 13% of the 575 students in Michigan selected for this honor. Huron High School had 39 Semi-Finalists, tied with Northville High School for the most of any single Michigan school. Over recent years, the Ann Arbor Public Schools has consistently had the most students recognized as National Merit Semi-Finalists among Michigan districts, with 56 recognized last year, 50 for the 2017 competition, 59 students honored in 2016, and 61 students in 2015.

Over 1.6 million U.S. high school students entered the 64th annual National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2017 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Approximately 16,000 students were named Semi-Finalists and have the opportunity to continue in the competition.

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

National Merit Scholarship winners of 2019 will be announced in four nation-wide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July.

The 2019 Semi-Finalists from the Ann Arbor Public Schools are:

Community High School's 2019 National Merit SemiFinalists

From Community High School: Julia L. Ammer, Garnet G. Bernier, Ella M. Edelstein, Zoe Lubetkin, Callum B. McCullough, Robert P. Morton, Will Panitch, and Aaron VonBargen

Huron High School's 2019 National Merit Semi-Finalists

From Huron High School: Caroline Bromberg, Julianna Caton, Matthew L. Chang, Tianyao Chen, Samantha E. Cho, Yuanqi Deng, Hiran M. Dewar, Kelly T. Fan, Miriam Gandham, Brandon J. Geng, Kaili Glasser, Johnson D. He, Richard M. Hurley, Sujai Jaipalli, Ritvik R. Jillala, Benjamin H. Joo, Nihar D. Joshi, Young-Bin Kim, Rithvik Kodali, Yashwanth Manne, Oliver D. Mayman, Rena K. McRoy, Bhuvna R. Murthy, Elizabeth Y. Niemi, Vallan Roan, Anna Scott, Lisa E. Stevens, Miriam E. Stevens, Arthur Y. Su, Yuehang Tang, Ira K. Tunkle, Chinguis Umirbayev, Aayush Unadkat, Bradley L. Wang, Jacalyn H. Wasserman, Jason T. Wing, Samuel J. Yang, Arthur Zhang, and Henry Zhou

Pioneer High School's 2019 National Merit Semi-Finalists pose in a classroom with lots of college pennants behind them.

From Pioneer High School: Yasine M. Baccouche, Shashank E. Chandru, David A. Corey, Lucy Duan, Benjamin D. Hack, Bliss H. Han, Jason Hu, Christopher Jiang, Lukas O. Jonsson, Zoe C. Kincaid-Beal, Zoe R. Kolasa, Sujay S. Kulkami, Emily J. Rennich, Mia E. Shin, Chenxin J. Song, Jiarong Song, Benjamin C. Voogd Stensen, Alexander J. Wang, Annie A. Wang, Kelman S. Wolfkostin, John Z. Yang, Yongyi Zhang, and Annie N. Zhou

Skyline High's 2019 National Merit Semi-Finalists seating in front of the skyline logo

From Skyline High School: Beatrix A. Dergis, Ahmad J. Kady, Eugene Lee, Avraham E. Lessure, Jiung Nam, Bonnie D. Spence, Camden F. Treiber, and Emily L Yao.

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