The National Merit Scholar title is a prestigious one that is bestowed upon a very select percentage of students. Long Beach High School senior Jonathan Kapilian has earned this recognition after advancing through the National Merit Scholarship competition.  Jonathan first attained the National Merit Semifinalist status based on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®).  An estimated 1.5 million students enter the National Merit Scholarship Program’s competition each year when they take the PSAT as juniors. Those with exceptional scores are later distinguished and eligible for the higher recognitions.

Jonathan was then named a finalist based on an application and his portfolio of his academic record, extracurricular achievements and awards. Now, he is among only 7,400 National Merit Finalists who went on to be identified as National Merit Scholars with scholarship award prizes.  

Jonathan is an International Baccalaureate diploma candidate focusing his extended essay on “The Effect of Population Density on Carbon Dioxide Emissions per Capita.” He is also a Coca-Cola Finalist, National Honor Society member and an award-winning science research and math student, and will be studying Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University next year.

In addition to his academic accomplishments, Jonathan is a vocalist and cellist who was chosen to attend the National Association for Music Education’s All-National Honor Ensembles performance, for which he traveled Tennessee in October. He was selected as an All-State musician last year and is a six-time All-County performer, as well as a two-time Long Island String Festival participant.