The East Meadow School District is proud to announce that W.T. Clarke High School student Charlotte Huang was named as a semifinalist in the 71st annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
Huang is among the nation’s high school seniors who will have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 6,930 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million. To advance as a finalist, students must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay and earn qualifying SAT/ACT scores. Finalists will be announced in February 2026, with the National Merit Scholars to be named later in the spring.
NMSC, a nonprofit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 300 business organizations and higher education institutions that share NMSC’s goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.
Additionally, the district would like to recognize W.T. Clarke High School students Prithul Anonto, Alexander Babwah and Bayli Pham, and East Meadow High School student Emily Zheng who were named were named Commended Students in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program.
East Meadow’s scholars are among the roughly 34,000 Commended Students throughout the nation who are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise. Although they will not continue in the 2026 competition for National Merit Scholarship awards, Commended Students placed among the top 50,000 scorers of more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2026 competition by taking the 2024 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMQST).
The district congratulates all of the honorees in this year’s National Merit Scholarship Program.
Photo captions:
1: W.T. Clarke High School student Charlotte Huang, second from left, was named as a semifinalist in the 71st annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Additionally, Alexander Babwah, center, Prithul Anonto and Bayli Pham were named Commended Students in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program. Also pictured is W.T. Clarke High School Principal Timothy Voels.
2: East Meadow High School student Emily Zheng was named as a Commended Student in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program. Also pictured is East Meadow High School Principal William Brennan, right, and high school counselor Steven Pereira.
Photos courtesy of the East Meadow Union Free School District
