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Hawaii News

57 Hawaii students named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists

A total of 57 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 nearly $28 million in scholarships to be offered next spring.

The Hawaii seniors come from 15 high schools, with one home-schooled student, according to the nonprofit National Merit Scholarship Corp., which announced the semifinalists earlier this month.

NMSC said over 1.3 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2022 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:

Waiakea High

>> Beatrice Kim-Lee

‘Iolani School

>> Raine Z. Cheng

>> Owen I. Ching

>> Susan R. Flatt

>> Grace E. Fujii

>> Chase P. Graham

>> Noelani M. Hiltner

>> Yijia Jiang

>> Diyora Kamilova

>> Cole T. Kaneshiro

>> Michael X. Kostecki

>> Euodia Lan

>> Jayne T. Lau

>> Jacob K. Lee

>> Justin Y. Lu

>> Elle S. Mizue

>> Rumaysha M. Momen

>> Grant K. Sung

>> James T. Wu

Kamehameha Schools-Kapalama

>> Travis Kuo

>> Avery Nakata

Mid-Pacific Institute

>> Jackson L. Ibarra

Moanalua High

>> Xavier Leung

Punahou School

>> Gabriel D. Canevari

>> Conrad C. Cao

>> Esther K. Chan

>> Narissa K. Chen

>> Ojoo Choi

>> Maxwell R. Chun

>> Connor S. Davidson

>> Gabriela T. Ewart

>> Reina H. Gammarino

>> Athena W. He

>> Akira A. Iwata

>> Deacon P. Lajala

>> Chasen T. Matsuoka

>> Brennan H. Nakata

>> Henry S. Reppun

>> Cora T. Saito

>> Nicholas K. Sharawy

>> Maria A. Weldon

>> Elise K. Wong

>> Iris Z. Xu

>> Irene J. Zhong

>> Ivey J. Zhong

Radford High

>> Jason A. Harwood

Roosevelt High

>> Akira R. Lux

University Laboratory School

>> Joshua Z. Li

Kalaheo High

>> Oliver M. Upton

Kealakehe High

>> Maile-Lei Ji

Kihei Charter High

>> Tanya V. Kari

Seabury Hall

>> Dean Tapler

Mililani High

>> Michael D. Chan

>> Cassidy M. Ibanez

>> Michael M. Roberts

Baldwin High

>> Anica J. Ancheta

Home school

>> Keenan Nakamura

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