LIHU‘E— Island School senior Emeline Wu of Lihu‘e is a finalist for the 2012 National Merit Scholarship Competition, the school announced. Approximately 8,400 scholarship winners will be chosen from 15,000 National Merit Scholarship finalists and announced this month. Some $34
LIHU‘E— Island School senior Emeline Wu of Lihu‘e is a finalist for the 2012 National Merit Scholarship Competition, the school announced.
Approximately 8,400 scholarship winners will be chosen from 15,000 National Merit Scholarship finalists and announced this month. Some $34 million in scholarships will be awarded.
Last fall, Wu learned she was a semifinalist in the competition. Students were chosen from 1.5 million who entered the 2012 competition as juniors by taking the 2010 PSAT/NMSQT. This test served as the initial screening and narrowed the field down to less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors who represented the highest-scoring entrants from each state.
Wu’s resume includes participation in Kauaibots, the award-winning high school robotics team, student government, the National Honor Society and the Science Olympiad. She has received academic awards for outstanding achievement, and was named an Advanced Placement scholar. In sports, she played on Island School’s KIF tennis and cross country teams.
During summer breaks, Emeline furthered her studies by taking advantage of various opportunities. She spent three weeks in China, traveling and studying Mandarin with her Chinese class. She also took several online classes in advanced math through Stanford University’s Education Program for Gifted Youth.
Island School reports that Wu, the daughter of Thearath Wu and Liliane Kheng-Wu of Lihu‘e, has received an early acceptance to Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, Mass., and has also been accepted at the University of Southern California.