The National Merit Scholarship Program recently named 10 high school seniors from Riverside County as semifinalists.
Local student Tei Park was among the highest scoring students in California on the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, the program’s first screening.
More than 1.3 million juniors from approximately 21,000 high schools took the PSAT, and more than 16,000 were selected as semifinalists nationwide. These semifinalists represent less than 1% of the graduating seniors in the United States.
To be considered as a finalist, the semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application highlighting the student’s leadership qualities and academic record, along with SAT or ACT scores that attest to previous performance on the qualifying test. Students will learn in February whether they have been selected as finalists and are eligible for the 6,870 scholarships that will be awarded in the spring of 2025.
The winners will be announced in four national press releases from April through July. They will join the more than 382,000 prominent young people who have earned the title of Merit Scholar.
Who is Coachella Valley semifinalist Tei Park?
Park is a Rancho Mirage resident who attends Laurel Springs School, an online K-12 private school. He attended Palm Desert High School in ninth grade, where he participated in the boys’ tennis team.
More: Four Desert Empire League tennis players dominate and reach round 32 in CIF play-offs
These 10 Riverside County Students Are National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists
Below is a list of the local semifinalists, by city, provided by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation:
Eastvale
Murrieta
Rancho Mirage
Riverside
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Zenabu Heikaus Weaver, John W. North High School
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Maxim M. Strong, Riverside Polytechnic High School
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Eubin Oh, Riverside STEM Academy
Temecula
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Jane H. Le, Great Oak High School
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Jun Woo Lee, Great Oak High School
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Nolan Ryan, Great Oak High School
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Sienna Young, Great Oak High School
Jennifer Cortez writes about education in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at jennifer.cortez@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: 10 Riverside County Students Named National Merit Semifinalists
