The Valley Stream Central High School District is proud to announce that four of its class of 2025 seniors have been named semifinalists in the National
Merit Scholarship Competition. South High School’s Andy Huang and Bahrija Radoncic; and Central High School’s Marlon Clarke and Aarish Talukdar were recognized for this honor.
The competition honors students for academic achievement, and is exceedingly difficult to obtain; among 1.5 million applicants nationwide, Andy, Bahrija, Marlon, and Aarish are four of only 16,000 to advance to the semifinals.
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation identifies academically talented students across the United States. Students are selected based on their exceptional academic records, participation in school activities, and performance on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. With this achievement, these four students will now compete for approximately 6,800 National Merit Scholarships to be awarded this spring, totaling more than $26 million.
From left, counselor Samantha Cipriano, Marlon Clarke, Principal Candace Hugee, Aarish Talukdar, and counselor Kathy Hardy.
Andy Huang, left, and Bahrija Radoncic with Principal Matthew Swinson.