Eight seniors at San Marino High School were informed on Wednesday afternoon that they are semifinalists in the 2019 National Merit Scholarship Program. The program selects 16,000 students to become semifinalists from the 1.6 million high school juniors who took the PSAT during the last academic year.
Ben Chao, Ashley Sun, Juliana Judge, Jacob Yim, Patrick McDonald, Aston Yong, Vincent Liu and Sean Chen were notified of their accomplishment by Assistant Principal Dr. Soomin Chao, who presented each honoree with a balloon and folder which described their accomplishment.
Merit Scholar selection is based on student skill, accomplishment, and potential for success in rigorous college studies. Factors for consideration include outstanding academic record, endorsement of high school officials, essay, and standardized college entrance test scores.
The group represents less than 1% of high school seniors in the United States and includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. Approximately 90% of the students advance to become finalists. From the finalists, 7,500 will be announced in April, 2019 as scholarship winners. The students will be recognized by the San Marino School Board at an upcoming meeting.
