This story has now been updated to include the names of the 21 Commended seniors. From the South Orange-Maplewood School District:
September 22, 2022 – The South Orange and Maplewood School District is pleased to announce that the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced the names of approximately 16,000 semifinalists in the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Among the academically talented high school seniors named is one senior from Columbia High School, Holden U. Reeves. Reeves was named as Semifinalists for the 2023 National Merit® Scholarship Program and will have an opportunity to continue to the National Merit Scholarship competition.
Some 16,000 of those high performers were recently designated semifinalists on a state representational basis for the 68th National Merit Scholarship Program. The semi-finalists will compete for more than 7,250 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28 million that will be announced in spring 2023. All winners will be selected from this group of finalists. CHS also had twenty-one seniors named as commended students in the 2023 National Merit Scholarship program, these students were recognized for their exceptional academic promise.
As a Semifinalist, Reeves will have an opportunity to continue in the Merit Scholarship® competition and advance to Finalist standing by meeting some additional requirements. Of the 16,000 semi-finalist, it is expected that 15,000 will move to the finalist round and their designation will be announced in February. According to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation approximately half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.
Columbia High School Principal, Frank Sanchez, shared, “We are so proud that in addition to Reeves, we had a total of 21 National Merit Commended Scholars, representing another incredible senior class. This accomplishment demonstrates years of hard work and dedication by these students and by the mentoring of our CHS faculty and our colleagues across the district.”
The CHS commended seniors are:
- Burton M. Alexander
- Isaac W. Arnold Berkov
- Daniel A. Butkus
- Brandon S. Doubek
- Garrett S. Dyson
- Isaac S. Fleischer
- Sophia E. Franklin
- Owen R. Friedman
- Olivia R. Gibbons
- Maya S. Glynn
- Robert M. Goldman
- Benjamin E. Hanselman
- Jordan R. Klein
- Jaden J. Lee
- Cyrus I. Merriweather
- Malachy L. Meyer
- Claudia A. Nesin
- Samuel E. Svitavsky
- Walker J. Szczecina
- Hudson A. Tyler
- Ian R. Wissel
High School juniors entered the 2023 National Merit Scholarship program by taking the 2021 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®) which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state.
