National Merit Scholarship semifinalists announced by Sarasota and Manatee county schools

Sarasota Herald-Tribune
·2 min read
Sarasota County Schools and the School District of Manatee County have announced semifinalists for the National Merit Scholarship program.
Sarasota County Schools and the School District of Manatee County have announced semifinalists for the National Merit Scholarship program.

Sarasota County Schools and the School District of Manatee County announced on Friday more than 45 students who are 2023 National Merit Scholarship semifinalists.

The semifinalists of the National Merit Scholarship are determined by the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. More than 1.5 million students took the test, but only about 16,000 were recognized as semifinalists, according to a press release.

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The Sarasota County public school students who were recognized as semifinalists:

• Pine View School: Joseph Afflerbach, Thomas Bartlett, Nolan Boucher, Siara Brennan, Felicity Chang, Julian Chauhan, Scott Conrad, Caroline Deacon, Haley Gardner, Juna Hatta-Langedyk, Jacob Koshy, Cole Laudenslager, Nicole Laureno, Kevin Lovo Flores, Sarah Luo, Ryan Macler, Duncan Marmash, Pranav Mayor, Carter McCaa, Ethan Messier, Lora Rini, Andrew Ruffin, Aarna Shah, Clementine Silver Schwartz, Krystal Tran, David Vice, Jonathan Widjaja, Koele Winch, Yifan Zhang, and Madison Zoernack.

• Riverview High School: Aiden Fitzgibbons, Aidan Hurwitz, Anson Nguyen, Mateo Rizzo, and Haylie Smith.

• Sarasota High School: Jorge Romero Salgado.

• Venice High School: Isabella Gibbs, David O'Grady, Briar Stonehouse, and Noah Whelden.

The Manatee County's semifinalists:

• IMG Academy: Jasper Adelman.

• Southeast High School: Kevin M. Chafloque.

• St. Stephen's Episcopal School: Elaina A. Bayard.

• State College of Florida Collegiate School: Gregory C. Dina.

• Lakewood Ranch Out-of-Door Academy: Sloan E. Arslaner, John David Bancroft, Natalie Carrion, and Victoria P. Woodruff.

Semifinalists are the highest-scoring entrants in each state and can advance to Finalist standing in the competition after meeting additional high academic standards and other requirements.

Finalists are announced in February and the eventual winners of scholarship awards are judged on academic record, school curriculum and grading system, PSAT/NMSQT Selection Index score, a high school official's written recommendation, student activities and leadership, and the Finalist's essay.

For more information, visit nationalmerit.org.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: More than 45 local semifinalists in National Merit Scholarship program