Forty-one students from a total of four Charleston County School District (CCSD) schools are finalists for the 65th annual National Merit Scholarship Program, which is run by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC).

This year’s group of finalists from CCSD is significantly larger than the 2019 list of finalists (26) from the district.

Academic Magnet High School leads the county and the state with 29 finalists, which is also a district and state record for one graduating class from one school.

Congratulations to the following 2020 finalists for the National Merit Scholarship Program from CCSD:

Academic Magnet

Caelen J. Bailey

Cademon B. Bitting

Christian W. Blackburn

Vivian D’Souza

Molly M. Dickerson

Sophia Discolo

Josephine R. Drake

Gabrielle A. Gagnon

Robert K. Gourdie

Michael L. Hammer

Jennifer E. Hsu

Richard T. Keys

Ameen M. Khan

William C. Kronsberg

Claire A. Kunkle

Brendan S. Kelleher

Sabrina K. Lawrence

Davis J. Leath

Jonathan T. Lemon

Allison M. Li

Caroline E. Lucas

Ellyn L. Marino

Samuel A. Rosenberg

Shreyon Roy

Michelle Sun

Amber Z. Tu

Dhillon R. Wegner

Sophia C. Wilson

Sophia Zhang

Charleston Charter School for Math and Science

Andre Rodriguez

Chas. Co. School of the Arts

Caroline W. Conway

Maya J. Green

Christina S. Lewis

Wando

Molly M. Bynum

Brooklyn M. Cantey

Reid B. Chave

Marissa Coll

Jolie E. Crunelle

Jack D. Mays

Akshay S. Patwardhan

Gillian L. Richard

“Being named a National Merit Finalist is a tremendous honor, and we are extremely proud of each student who earned this distinction,” said CCSD superintendent Gerrita Postlewait. “As a district, we celebrate a record number of finalists. However, this is more than a one-year accomplishment. This is the culmination of these students’ academic achievements from kindergarten to high school, supported and encouraged by their families and many excellent educators.”

The CCSD 2020 National Merit Scholarship Finalists were contacted by NMSC last month; they will find out later this spring if they are one of the 7,600 National Merit Scholarship Winners.

The announcements for the specific types of scholarships (Corporate-Sponsored, National Merit $2,500, and College-Sponsored) will be made in April, May, June and July. These scholarship recipients will join more than 345,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the title of Merit Scholar.

More than 1.5 million juniors from about 21,000 high schools entered the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2018 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants.

To become a finalist, the semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application that includes the semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment and honors and awards received.

A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.

For more information, contact the Office of Strategy and Communications at (843) 937-6303.