Greens Farms Academy is a PreK-12, coed school in Westport, CT

Liyana Asaria-Issa ‘23 Selected as National Merit Scholar

Liyana Asaria-Issa ‘23 Selected as National Merit Scholar

Liyana Asaria-Issa ‘23 has been selected as a National Merit Scholar. She was chosen from a talent pool of more than 15,000 outstanding finalists in the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program. Each winner will can use their $2,500 award at any regionally accredited U.S. college or university of their choice. 

National Merit Scholarship winners are the finalists in each state judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies. The number of winners named in each state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the nation’s graduating high school seniors.

In September it was announced that Asaria-Issa was selected as one of just over 16,000 students (from a pool of approximately 1.6 million students nationwide) to be named a Semifinalist in the competition. In February, it was announced that she was named a finalist placing her in a group of less than one percent of all U.S. high school seniors who took the PSAT last year.

To continue to the Finalist round, candidates must submit an extensive scholarship application that details their academic record, community and school participation, leadership roles, employment, honors, and awards. According to the NMS official announcement, "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 in the qualifying test."