Congratulations to Westlake High’s Kevin Xu, Semifinalist in the National Merit® Scholarship Program

Kevin Xu, a Westlake High School senior, joins four of his fellow classmates in earning semifinalist status in the 2021 in the National Merit® Scholarship Program. Of the 1.5 million students who take the 2019 PSAT/NMSQT exam that qualifies them for the National Merit Scholarship competition, only 16,000 students score high enough to qualify as semifinalists, which puts them in the top 1% of students across the nation.

Kevin now has the opportunity to apply for finalist status. If he is chosen as one of the 15,000 finalists, Kevin will compete for nearly $31 million is scholarship funds. Kevin said there are several factors that led to his high success, including personal desire, encouragement from friends and guidance from teachers.

“I moved to Westlake in eighth grade, from a small town in Kentucky,” Kevin said. “One of my teachers in eighth grade, Ms. Fetko, helped me adjust to the new school life and encouraged me to achieve my potential. In high school, I was glad to see that many of the teachers were just like her, such as Mr. Major, Ms. Sidloski, Mr. Cuomo, Mr. Patton, Mr. Packis and Ms. Prohaska. Though I may not have excelled in everything I participated in, I always try my best. During my club activities (such as Westlake Analytics, Academic Challenge, National English Honor Society etc.), I enjoyed the teamwork and faculty advisors’ support.”

While Kevin has not decided where he wants to go to college, he plans to attend a university and major in computer engineering. He has an interest in both hardware and software and even completed an internship at Hyland Software during summer break.

“I plan to start a career in the computer engineering field, and hopefully, one day, I could start my own business once I have enough experience,” Kevin said. “In addition, I want to keep writing in my spare time.”

Outside of school and work, Kevin enjoys playing the saxophone, reading, coding computer programs and writing fiction.

The 2021 National Merit Scholarship winners will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join more than 353,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.

Learn more about the National Merit Scholarship Program and NMSC by visiting www.nationalmerit.org.