Vestal High School Principal Dawn F. Young is pleased to announce that three Vestal High School seniors, Ian Chung, Rayna Cui, and Mia Perfetti, have qualified as Semifinalists in the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program. These academically talented high school seniors were among the over 16,000 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists announced nationwide. Ian, Rayna, and Mia will have an opportunity to continue in the competition for approximately 7,140 scholarship awards worth nearly $28 million that will be offered in Spring 2024 as part of the 69th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
In addition, Mrs. Young is proud to announce that five more Vestal High School seniors were named Commended Students. Letters of commendation from the school and National Merit Scholarship Corporation, which conducts the program, will be presented by the principal to Sriram Chakravadhanula, Alaina Domingo, Miron Sulicz, Samantha Tumey, and Tony Zhou.
Commended Students placed among the top scorers of more than 1.3 million students who entered the 2024 competition when they took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®). About 34,000 Commended Students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise.
“Vestal students continue to strive to achieve their personal best,” said Principal Dawn F. Young. “This achievement is a testament to the preparedness of our students for any challenge in front of them because of the efforts of Vestal’s K – 12 team. I am immensely proud of our Semifinalists and Commended Students for this tremendous accomplishment!”
High school juniors entered the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2022 PSAT/NMSQT®. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists represents less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors and includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state.
NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 400 business organizations and higher education institutions that share its goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence. For more information about the competition, please visit NMSC’s website at www.nationalmerit.org