Seven Archmere Seniors Named National Merit Semifinalists

Archmere seniors Jack deBruin, Amanda Denning, Helen Laster, Shreyas Parab, Alisa Yakovenko, Anna Zdunek, and Grace Zhang were named National Merit Semifinalists because of their high scores on the PSAT's, taken in their junior year. Only 16,000 students (of approximately 1.6 million) achieve this honor and are invited to apply for the National Merit Scholarship each year. To be considered for a National Merit Scholarship, Semifinalists must advance to Finalist standing in the competition. 

These academically talented seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some $7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million that will be offered next spring. Finalists will be announced in late February and Merit Scholarship Winners in March. A Semifinalist 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.

Ten other Archmere seniors were among the top 50,000 high scorers on the PSAT and will receive the recognition of being named National Merit Commended Students. Patrick Beck, Dara Dawson, Natasha Gengler, Alexander Gulea, Madison Larmore, Madyson McDougal, Ryan Nowaczyk, Connor Smeader, Brant Wesley and Ryan Whelan were recognized for their high scores.