Seven Fox Chapel Area High School seniors have been designated as National Merit Semifinalists and 13 have been named Commended Students in the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program conducted by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC). The Semifinalists from Fox Chapel Area High School are Suparna Agrawal, Amulya Garimella, Brendan Gladwin, Ryan Kenyon, Mark Puthenpurayil, Jackson Romero, and Vinisha Sant. The Commended Students from Fox Chapel Area High School are Erin Doherty, Natalka Harris, Emily Li, Lucy Markovitz, John Polcyn, John Scott, Sanjay Seshan, Vivian Shao, Aaron Tien, Michael VanDemark, Joey Wang, Alwyn Williams, and Nathaniel Yerage.
All of these students were selected based on their 2019 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) scores. Each year, more than 1.5 million juniors complete the PSAT/NMSQT and are automatically entered in the National Merit Scholarship Program. Approximately 16,000 advance to become semifinalists, and about 34,000 are commended students. The semifinalists represent less than 1% of the nation’s high school seniors, and the commended students represent the top 5%. A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and write an essay. The commended students are recognized for their exceptional academic promise. The semifinalists will have the opportunity to advance to the finalist level and compete for 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $30 million.
