Who are Hinsdale Central's 27 National Merit Semifinalists?

Hinsdale Central has 27 National Merit Semifinalists this school year, according to an announcement posted on the school's website. 

Approximately 1.5 million students enter the National Merit Scholarship competition each year through the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, the announcement reads.

"Of these entrants, some 16,000 semifinalists are designated on a state representational basis, in numbers proportional to each state’s percentage of the nation’s high school graduating seniors. Semifinalists are the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and represent the top one percent of the state’s senior students."

Semifinalists who want to acquire the National Merit Scholarship will submit a detailed scholarship application including essays and extracurricular information.

"By the conclusion of the competition, a select group of finalists are chosen to receive prestigious National Merit Scholarships totaling nearly $35 million," the post reads. 

This year's Hinsdale Central National Merit Semifinalists are: 

• Naveen Balaji
• Vinay S. Basti
• Devon N. Chenelle
• Sarita S. Deshpande
• Emily K. Ding
• Jing Gao
• Elizabeth J. Hamp
• Margaret L. Hu
• Qian M. Hu
• Danmei Huang
• Saba Imran
• Julian T. Kanagy
• Smriti Kanangat
• Samantha K. Lagestee
• Chetna Mahajan
• Eileen M. Malecki
• Christian E. Meyer
• Nikol S. Pervan
• Emmanual K. Proussaloglou
• Rahul Ramani
• Shreya U. Rao
• Elijah T. Seo
• Alexandra Solovyev
• Caroline B. Sudduth
• Caitlin J. Wong
• Zoe T. Wong
• Edward F. Xie