National Merit Scholarship Corporation announces 55 Bellevue students as semifinalists

Officials of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation recently announced the names of approximately 16,000 semifinalists in the 63rd annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

Of those 16,000, 55 are students in the Bellevue School District.

These high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition.

About 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and about half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation, a nonprofit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

Scholarships are underwritten by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation with its own funds and by approximately 420 business organizations and higher education institutions that share corporation’s goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.

Bellevue School District’s 55 semifinalists are as follows:

Bellevue High School

  • Bahn, Anthony J.
  • Dai, Julia
  • Fan, Sarah C.
  • Girnus, Clare
  • Huang, Emily
  • Lin, Jeffrey
  • Ma, Kevin L.
  • Shao, Nathan R.
  • Song, Henry
  • Yang, Heesoo
  • Zhao, Samuel

Interlake High School

  • Bentley, Stephanie C.
  • Cao, Lilly J.
  • Dong, Richard
  • Guo, Tina T.
  • Huang, Christopher
  • Jiang, Peishan
  • Joy, Diya M.
  • Lee, Hyunjae
  • Li, Alexander S.
  • Li, Jenny K.
  • Liang, Jessica
  • Liu, Eric C.
  • Liu, Richard
  • Muntianu, Tudor A.
  • Rosenwald, Bryce W.
  • Roy Choudhury, Ritika
  • Sitomer, Niharika
  • Srikanth, Kavya
  • Trivedi, Aramya G.
  • Verma, Saijel
  • Wang, Grayson C.
  • Wijeratna, Aishanee K.
  • Wong, Austin
  • Yang, Michael Z.
  • Yun, Sterling K.
  • Zhi, Sophia
  • Zou, Grace J.

Newport High School

  • Guo, Jimmy T.
  • Huang, Michael G.
  • Kim, Sooji
  • Lee, Peyton A.
  • Lim, Anne W.
  • Liu, Autumn J.
  • Mach, Yoeur-Man T.
  • Ouyang, James
  • Tsai, Valerie
  • Yang, Jay H.
  • Yang, Yerin
  • Zhao, Ivan

Sammamish High School

  • Ka, Taylor Y.
  • Kuntz, Jonathan S.
  • Li, Tina K.
  • Shi, Megan E.
  • Tsai, Jeremy