This article was updated Sept. 17, 2019, following the receipt from National Merit Scholarship Corp. of the name of an additional student semi-finalist: Ada Oancea.

Six East Greenwich High School students and two EG students who attend Wheeler were named National Merit Scholars last week by the National Merit Scholarship Corp. 

The students were Andy Babb (EGHS), Chloe Guo (Wheeler School), Jack Holmgren (EGHS), Sophie Johnson (EGHS), Ada Oancea (EGHS), Suraj Sait (EGHS), Chris Teng (EGHS), Brant Wei (EGHS), Brandon Zhang (Wheeler School).

They are among the 16,000 students who reached semi-finalist status, out of more than 1.5 million high school student who entered the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2018 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test as juniors. 

Over 90 percent of the semi-finalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and about half of the finalists will win the elite National Merit Scholarship.

To become a finalist, students (with help from their school) must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about their academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. A semi-finalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test. 

Congratulations to all eight semi-finalists!