From left: Spencer Kitts and Daniel Sheinin
Yorktown High School seniors Daniel Sheinin and Spencer Kitts have been named semifinalists in the 68th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
High school juniors entered the program by taking the 2021 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, which represents less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state.
“It feels pretty good,” Sheinin said of the accomplishment. “I’m glad to be able to potentially receive a scholarship. I’m glad that my hard work paid off.”
For Kitts, the key to performing well on the PSAT was to put in the work beforehand.
“I think that the classes and the school do a great job of preparing you for the test,” Kitts said. “There’s not really any additional stuff you have to do other than paying attention in class to do well.”
These academically talented high school seniors will have an opportunity to continue in the competition and be eligible for scholarships. About 95% of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and approximately half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the title of Merit Scholar.
“We have to write an essay and submit that,” Kitts said. “Then they’ll take into account how good the essay is and also some other information about your transcript and how well you did on the SAT or ACT.”
Kitts and Sheinin, whose favorite subjects include math and computer science, said they’ve felt supported during their time at Yorktown High School.
“I would say that Yorktown provides a lot of resources for kids to know what’s going on,” Sheinin said. “There are always a lot of resources and people who can help you if you want to study. And there’s often workshops and things like that for people to get help.”
Yorktown High School’s Class of 2023 also produced 10 National Merit Scholarship Program Commended Students: Raka Bose, Hailee Carter, William Grossman, Katerina Kleinschmidt, Krishna Kumanan, Klara Kunz, Colin McCann, Jenna Scanlan, Ashley Song, and Ryan Tomeny.
