Arcadia High Students See Continued Success in National Merit Scholar Program

Overthe past 25 years, Arcadia High has had an average of 20 or more National MeritScholarship semifinalists each school year and adds 20 more Arcadia Highstudents this year who have earned a coveted spot in the 2021 National MeritScholarship competition. 

Whileit is not uncommon for public high schools to have only a handful of studentsor zero students who make it into the prestigious National Merit Scholarshipprogram each year, in the past 25 years, Arcadia High has been home to over 600National Merit Scholarship semifinalists. 

Thisyear’s 20 Arcadia High students join less than 1% of high school seniors acrossthe nation who now have the opportunity to continue to the next round of thecompetition and contend for one of roughly 7,600 scholarships that arecollectively worth more than $30 million.

“Beingrecognized as a semifinalist in the National Merit Scholarship program is sucha special honor for our students,” said Arcadia High Principal Angie Dillman.This was the motivation for Dillman and her fellow Arcadia High administrationteam and Arcadia High counselors to personally deliver certificates, balloons,and cupcakes to the homes of each of Arcadia High’s 20 National MeritScholarship semifinalists in an effort to ensure these students’accomplishments did not go unnoticed through this time of distance learning.

Applyingto the National Merit Scholarship program begins in a student’s junior year ofhigh school, with Arcadia High’s current 20 semifinalists starting this journeyby joining over 1.5 million juniors from nearly 21,000 high schools across thecountry in taking the 2019 Preliminary SAT/National Merit ScholarshipQualifying Test. Of these test-takers, approximately 16,000 of thehighest-scorers from each state are awarded entry into this acclaimed academiccompetition.

Tobe eligible for a finalist spot in this program, Arcadia High’s semifinalistsand Arcadia High counselors will work together to submit a detailed scholarshipapplication, wherein they provide information about a semifinalist’s academicrecord, participation in school and community activities, demonstratedleadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. In addition,semifinalists need to have outstanding academic records throughout their highschool careers, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, andwrite an essay.

Ofthe approximately 16,000 semifinalists, 15,000 finalists will be selected.Those who make it to the finalist phase will receive notification of thisdesignation in February 2021 and will be the final pool of scholars consideredfor a 2021 National Merit Scholarship.

Foradditional details on the National Merit Scholarship program, visit nationalmerit.org, and for information about Arcadia High School, visit ahs.ausd.net.

ArcadiaHigh School National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists (alphabetical order bylast name):

LegolasChen, William Chen, Alex Dang, Jiacheng Hu, Dongming Hua, Jolene Huey, NathanKuo, Kate Larrick, Tanya Lee, Claire Liang, Margaret Lin, Alex Liu, CharisseLiu, Maxwell Montemayor, Jenny Qiu, Maggie Sun, Onassa Sun, Jonathan Wang,Melody Yang, and Henry Zeng.