20 Arcadia High Students Named National Merit Scholarship Finalists

Out of 20 AHS students named National Merit Scholarship Finalists, AHS has three students who have been selected as winners of the coveted $2,500 scholarship. – Courtesy photo / AUSD

Arcadia High School had another impressive showing in this year’s National Merit Scholarship program with all 20 Apache semifinalists named as 2018 National Merit Scholarship Finalists. This year marks the 25th consecutive year that Arcadia High School has had over 85 percent of its students advance from semifinalists to finalists in this prestigious program.

“We continue to be amazed by our students year in and year out,” expressed Arcadia Unified Superintendent Dr. David Vannasdall. “The recognition our students receive in this program serves as another great opportunity to not only celebrate our students’ dedication to learning but to recognize the outstanding work our teachers, counselors, and staff do to motivate our students to imagine, inquire, and inspire throughout their educational journeys in our district and beyond.”

Students honored each year by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) represent less than one percent of high school seniors in the United States. Approximately 1.6 million juniors from more than 22,000 high schools vied for entrance into the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2016 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). While some high schools have less than a handful of seniors invited into this program each year, in the past 20 years, 547 Arcadia High students have been named Semifinalists, while 527 Apaches have reached the finalist phase.

Finalists who are chosen as scholarship winners are those candidates judged to have the strongest combination of academic skills and achievements, extracurricular accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies. According to the NMSC, by the conclusion of its 2018 competition, about 7,500 Finalists will have been selected to receive National Merit Scholarships.

Arcadia High School has three students who have been selected as winners of a coveted National Merit $2,500 Scholarship–Justin Chen (pursuing a career in engineering at Columbia University), Arianna Togelang (pursuing a career in economics at Stanford University), and Edward Zeng (pursuing a career in applied mathematics at University of California, Berkeley).

Arcadia High School National Merit Scholarship Finalists: (Alphabetical order by last name)

Ethan Chen, Justin Chen*, Liang-Wei Chen, Sean Chen, Conner Ching, Andrea Fang, Nicholas Figueira, Xinyang Gu, Daniel Ho, Frank Lee, Derek Li, James Shin, Arianna Togelang*, Regina Wang, Elyse Yao, Benjamin Yeh, Xiaoke Ying, Warren Yuan, Edward Zeng*, and Louis Zhao

Arcadia High School National Hispanic Scholars: (Alphabetical order by last name)

Nicole Bocanegra, James Gassner, Charles Guerra, Phillip Lau, and Gabriel Moreano

*Denotes National Merit $2,500 Scholarship Winners. These three students will be honored with these scholarships at Arcadia High School’s annual Senior Awards Night on May 31, 2018 beginning at 5:00 p.m. at the Arcadia Performing Arts Center.