CENTRAL STUDENTS ARE SEMIFINALISTS
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation has announced the names of more than 16,000 Semifinalists in the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship Program, including 22 from Hinsdale Central.
They are Toral Bhatt, Claire Chung, Raveen Doshi, Claire Entsminger, Shreyas Girotra, Sonia Gupta, Yash Gupta, George Healy, Kaitlyn Hu, Nathaniel Maydanchik, Dilan Mehta, Ayla Mushtaq, Leah Packer, Shreemann Patel, Noor Pirzada, Udayvir Sharma, Padmasri Thirunarayanan, Tiffany Tu, Kaan Turkyilmaz, Graham Wierzbicki, Benjamin Yan and Harrison Zhang.
These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 6,870 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million that will be offered next spring.
To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. About 95 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and about half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title.
GARCIA APPOINTED TO new committee
U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” Garcia (D-4, Chicago), who represents Hinsdale, has been appointed to the House Judiciary Committee by the Democratic Caucus.
“I am thankful to Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries for nominating me and honored to have been confirmed by my colleagues to serve on the House Judiciary Committee,” Garcia stated in a press release. “In this position, I will expand and deepen the work I do to protect my constituents’ civil and civic liberties against undemocratic attacks. It will also be my priority to advance a public safety agenda responsive to historical outcomes and rooted in community needs.
“This committee assignment will allow me to fight more directly for a humane and just immigration system, including a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients and long-term immigrant communities, and push against the extreme policies Republicans are trying to impose. This is an issue of central importance to my constituents, many of whom are immigrants like me,” Garcia said. “My priorities will also include advocating for greater oversight of federal surveillance tools, in particular against minority communities, supporting House Democrats’ historic work on antitrust and promoting judicial ethics.”
García will be the only House Member from Illinois to serve in the Judiciary Committee. He will continue to serve in the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, which he has been a part of since 2019.
