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A total of 65 Hawaii high school seniors have been named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists, placing them among about 16,000 high-scoring students nationally who will be eligible for more than $30 million in scholarships to be offered next spring.
The Hawaii seniors come from 17 high schools, with one home-schooled student, according to the nonprofit National Merit Scholarship Corp., which announced the semifinalists last week.
NMSC said more than 1.5 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2019 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test last fall. The semifinalists represent less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors, including the highest-scoring entrants in each state.
Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level, including completing a detailed application and writing an essay.
NMSC officials said about 90% of the semifinalists are expected to become finalists, which will make them eligible for three types of National Merit Scholarships being offered in spring 2021. The Hawaii semifinalists are:
Baldwin High
>> Liam A. Caldwell
Hawaii Baptist Academy
>> Adia Ainsworth
>> Johanna Seng
>> Christine Yamamoto
Hawaii Preparatory Academy
>> Nissi K. Ragland
Hilo High
>> John H. Marrack
>> Shwe Y. Win
Homeschool
>> Arjun Sharma
‘Iolani School
>> Dagny V. Brand
>> Maya C. S. Chang
>> Devan H. Fujinaka
>> Jayson T. Guo
>> Madeline Y. Heyler
>> Jeein Hong
>> Dylan T. Kaneshiro
>> Sunny T H. Katagiri
>> Joshua O. Lerner
>> Malia S. Monaco
>> Kayla K. Mukai
>> Carlson H. Ogata
>> Joshua H. Park
>> Hunter M. Schmidt
>> Alexa-Rae P. Simao
>> Mariko A. Storey- Matsutani
>> Autumn J H T. Woolpert
>> Kacey L M. Yamane
Kaiser High
>> Carlyn Y. Kagamida
>> Ingus Y. Stegis
Kalaheo High
>> Nicolas P. Sarji
Kalani High
>> Maximilian Chan
>> Lana C. Lubecke
Kamehameha Schools Hawaii
>> Xander A. Calicdan
Kamehameha Schools Kapalama
>> Parker I. Chang
>> Cade J. Kane
>> Mahina P. Kaomea
>> Reece H. Kishimori
>> Nainoa N. Watanabe
Maui High
>> Michael L. Wong
McKinley High
>> Anna Baker
Mid-Pacific Institute
>> Shao Hua Weng
Punahou School
>> Alexandra N. Buntin- Nakamura
>> Samantha S. Chapman
>> Michael W. Chen
>> Harris K. Chin
>> Braden T. Hallstrom
>> Pascal T. He
>> Kara J. Hirano
>> Micah K. Hiu
>> Matthew P. Hollinger
>> Yang Hu
>> Jonah P. Johnson
>> Shawn Jun
>> Devin K. Korybski
>> Liam E. Lynch
>> Erin E. Nishi
>> Sejin Park
>> Milica K. Prisic Smagghe
>> Lauren Richards
>> Victoria Takai
>> Cosette T. Wu
>> Andrew Y. Yu
Roosevelt High
>> Jenna S. Kim
Seabury Hall
>> Cai J. Noel
Waipahu High
>> Reyan E. Lee
>> Julianne Ysabella A. Viernes