AMSA Students Semifinalists in National Merit Scholarship Program

This release was provided by the staff of the Advanced Math and Science Academy.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation last month announced the field of semifinalists for its 2012 scholarship program and seven students from the were among those honored.

These seniors include: Jerry Hsu, Samuel Kaplan, Bill Warner, Vishant Prabhakaran, Jennifer Hu, and Christina Teodorescu. Micaela Garrison-Desany, meanwhile, is a National Achievement Scholarship semifinalist.

“We at AMSA are incredibly proud of these students,” Principal Joseph Sweeney said. “They truly exemplify what our school is about—realizing academic excellence and reaching full potential.”

According to the NMSC, about 90 percent of semifinalists, numbering approximately 16,000 nationwide, will become finalists, with about half of those students earning scholarships collectively worth more than $34 million.

To put the achievement into perspective, about 1.5 million students from some 22,000 high schools across the United States entered the program, fewer than one percent of seniors in the country. Only the highest-scoring applicants from each state reached the semifinal stage.

The students from AMSA have proven to be a driven, highly focused and motivated group with a wide range of interest both inside and outside of the classroom, said a release. 

Jerry Hsu, who would like to pursue a career in biology or engineering, also performs in theatrical productions and plays for the school baseball team; Bill Warner, who loves mathematics, runs track and cross country and also serves as a ski instructor; Jennifer Yu, meanwhile, loves English, history, and biology and volunteers for the Autism Student-to-Student Connection Program. These students are applying to such distinguished universities as Harvard, Stanford, Duke, Georgetown, Brown and Cornell.

“These students’ academic accomplishments are impressive by themselves, but in tandem with their wide-ranging extracurricular achievements, they have worked incredibly hard to place themselves among the best high school scholars in the nation,” said Sweeney.

Winners of National Merit Scholarships will be announced in four nationwide news releases, beginning in April and concluding in July. Recipients will join the more than 283,000 students who have previously earned the title of Merit Scholar.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date on the latest Marlborough news, or simply hit the "like" button at the top of this page.