National Merit Scholar Semifinalists Announced | Se Anuncian Los Semifinalistas del Premio Nacional al Mérito

Officials of National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced that Canyon High School seniors Ryan Mahoney, Karina Patel, and Anna Vaughan, as well as El Modena High School senior Dagny Parayao, are Semifinalists in the 66th annual National Merit® Scholarship Program. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity compete for 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $30 million and exemplify the Orange Unified EDGE’s focus on excellence in academics.

Over 1.5 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®). Approximately 16,000 students, less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors, will be recognized as Semifinalists nationwide.

Mahoney, Patel, Vaughan, and Parayao now have the opportunity to begin the application process to become National Merit Scholarship Finalists. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition.  Over 90% of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and about half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship and earn the Merit Scholar® title. Finalists will be announced in February.

National Merit Scholars each receive a $2,500-a-year National Merit Scholarship, a corporate-sponsored scholarship, and/or a college-sponsored scholarship. National Merit Scholarship winners of 2021 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July.

 

Los funcionarios de la Corporación de Becas al Mérito Nacional anunciaron que los estudiantes senior de la Escuela Preparatoria Canyon High Ryan Mahoney, Karina Patel y Anna Vaughan, así como Dagny Parayao estudiante senior de la escuela preparatoria El Modena, son semifinalistas en el 66º Programa Anual de Becas al Mérito Nacional. Estos estudiantes seniors de preparatoria con talento académico tienen la oportunidad de competir por 7.600 Becas de Mérito Nacional con un valor de más de 30 millones de dólares y ejemplifican el enfoque de EDGE del Distrito Unificado de Orange en la excelencia académica

Más de 1,5 millones de estudiantes de primer año de unas 21.000 escuelas preparatorias entraron en el Programa Nacional de Becas al Mérito del 2021 al hacer el examen preliminar de calificación para las becas al mérito nacional (PSAT/NMSQT®). Aproximadamente 16.000 estudiantes, menos del 1% de los estudiantes seniors de preparatoria de EE. UU., serán reconocidos como semifinalistas a nivel nacional.

Mahoney, Patel, Vaughan y Parayao tienen ahora la oportunidad de comenzar el proceso de solicitud para convertirse en Finalistas de la Beca de Mérito Nacional. Para ser considerados a obtener una beca de mérito®, los semifinalistas deben cumplir varios requisitos para avanzar al nivel de finalista del concurso.  Se espera que más del 90% de los semifinalistas alcancen el nivel de Finalista, y aproximadamente la mitad de los finalistas ganarán una Beca Nacional de Mérito y obtendrán el título de Merit Scholar®. Los finalistas serán anunciados en febrero.

Cada uno de los becarios de mérito nacional recibe una beca de mérito nacional de 2.500 dólares al año, una beca patrocinada por la empresa y/o una beca patrocinada por la universidad. Los ganadores de la Beca Nacional de Mérito del 2021 serán anunciados en cuatro comunicados de prensa a nivel nacional a partir de abril y hasta julio.

 

Picture of ryan mahoney

 

Picture of Karina Patel

 

Picture of anna vaughn

 

Picture of DagneyParayao

 

 

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The Orange Unified School District educates approximately 26,000 PreK-12th grade students in the Cities of Orange, Villa Park, Anaheim, Garden Grove, Santa Ana, and unincorporated county areas.  In partnership with our community, we provide a safe, equitable, and innovative culture of learning for each scholar to have a competitive EDGE as a leader.