Nine Ridgefield High School seniors have qualified as semifinals for the 59th Annual National Merit Scholarship Competition that awards individual students across the country based on exceptional academic ability and potential for success in college.
The nine are James Barile, Philip DiGiacomo, Nicholas Esemplare, Devin Gund, Michael Kim, Ryan Konopka, Andrew McKee, Holly Storm, and Addye Susnick —
Ridgefield High has the fourth highest total of semifinalists in the state, and is tied for third in Fairfield County.
“Each year, over 1.5 million students enter the competition by taking the Preliminary SAT, or National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) during the fall of their junior year,” said Juanita Hall, the chairwoman for the high school’s counseling department. “Of these students about 34,000 will be honored as Commended Students and an estimated 16,000 will be identified as semi-finalists in the competition.”
Those who meet the specific academic and other external requirements will be honored as National Merit Finalists, the highest honor given to qualifying students.
Merit Scholarships awards will be offered as National Merit, corporate-sponsored or college-sponsored scholarships, according to Ms. Hall.
“These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,000 National Merit Scholarships worth about $35 million that will be offered next spring,” said Eileen Artemakis, a public relations official for the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. “Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition.”
She estimates about 90% of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and that more than half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship while earning a Merit Scholar title.
Greenwich High School finished first in both the state and Fairfield County with 17 students qualifying.
Hopkins School in New Haven finished second with 16 students and Wilton High School finished second in the county, third in the state, with 11 semifinalists.
Other neighboring towns such as Westport, Darien, and New Canaan finished with nine, seven and five semifinalists, respectively.