Three St. Charles high school students named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists

St. Charles East High School seniors Matthew Hall and Nathan Throneburg and St. Charles North High School senior Andrew Nesterov have been named semifinalists in the 68th annual National Merit Scholarship Program, according to a news release from St. Charles District 303.

The trio have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some of the nearly $28 million in scholarships that will be offered in the spring. Semifinalists will be notified whether they advance to the finals in February.

Also recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Program as Commended Students are:

St. Charles East High School: Clare Archbold, Christopher Barbera, Nathan Borgstrom, Rachel Cornille, Daniel Flores, Jack Griffin, Andrew Komerska, Abigail Kreeger, Peyton LaCroix, Emma Maxwell, Clara Owen, Dylan Platt, Maggie Rich, Jackson Sengenberger, Ryan Sponzilli, Amanda Stepien, Andrew Szuch, and Hannah Wojcik.

St. Charles North High School: Skyler Bell, Alexandra Bryner, Stephen DelBello, Hayley Giancaterino, Adeline Grimm, Nikhil Gupta, Robert Kemp, Kane Kriz, Anatoliy Lynevych, Kayla Menough, Hanna Rey, Cameron Ring, Mia Rodriguez, Ella Roth, Joshua Wahl, and Emily Watanapongse.

According to the release, high school juniors entered the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2021 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, 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. The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.