News Briefs: 34 National Merit semifinalists from NTHS; Important Winnetka meeting postponed; NTHS board candidates sought; $1 book sale on Saturday

Thirty-four New Trier High School seniors have been named as semifinalists as part of the nationwide program that awards $26 million in scholarships to 6,870 students.

New Trier’s 2025 National Merit Semifinalists are: Eric Arrowsmith, Brett Cardonick, Garrett Chong, Chase Crawford, Mattelyn Crawford, Franklin Cui, Henry Deng, Mark Gibbard, Adam Gurevich, Jacob Han, Nathan Hefman, Henry Hipschen, Theodore Kaczmarek, Alexander Karabatsos, William Karr, Doyun Lee, Eda Memik, Kaci Morris, Alexander Myerholtz, Bardiya Niknam, David Organ, Ranjit Paintal, Neil Sanderson, Sean Scott, William Shin, Lillian Tanner, Shabnam Thakrar, Gabriella Therivel, Simon Updegraff, John Walther, Roan Weiss, Rebecca Winkler, Benjamin Wu and Sasha Zivin.

The students earned the honor from a pool of approximately 16,000 students who took the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Only about 1 percent of all high school seniors in the country were named semifinalists.

To advance to the next level, each student must have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and write an essay. Students must also submit a summary of their school and community activities, and honors and awards received.

About 95 percent of the semifinalists are expected to advance to the next level of the competition, and of those students, about half are expected to win a National Merit Scholarship.

Centennial Beach project’s first Village review delayed

An anticipated public meeting to review the Winnetka Park District’s plans for Centennial Park Beach has been rescheduled. The Winnetka Park District has announced that a public meeting scheduled for September 24 to discuss the Centennial Park + Beach Project has been postponed.

Originally set for Sept. 24, the meeting of the Village of Wilmette Zoning Board of Appeals has been tentatively set for Oct. 14.

During a Park Board meeting on Sept. 12, officials said not all zoning commissioners would be in attendance on Sept. 24, so they requested a delay until Oct. 14.

“We understand the importance of this project to the community and are committed to working closely with the Village of Winnetka to move the process forward,” Park District Executive Director Shannon Nazzal said in a statement. “We remain excited to share how this project reflects the valuable input from our residents and look forward to presenting on Oct. 14.”

Updates on the project will be shared as they become available, officials said.

New Trier School Board Caucus makes call for candidates

The New Trier School Board Caucus is seeking candidates to fill four seats on the school board starting in 2025. The volunteers serving on the caucus are asking for applicants to submit an application no later than Sept. 26.

For more information on the NTSB Caucus, visit its website or Facebook page, or email the NTSB Caucus at newtriercaucus@gmail.com.

Those who are interested will be interviewed by the caucus in a closed session. The interviews will be held on Oct. 1, 8 and 16.

The next public caucus meeting is Sept. 25. The meetings are open to the press and public.

The NTSB Caucus is composed of 47 volunteer representatives from each of the six feeder districts to New Trier High School; Avoca 37, Glencoe 35, Kenilworth 38, Sunset Ridge 29, Wilmette 39 and Winnetka 36. The organization also includes two NTHS student council delegates. The purpose of the caucus is to interview, select and endorse candidates to fill vacancies on the school board.

For more information, visit the caucus’s website.

$1 book sale at Wilmette Public Library

The Friends of the Wilmette Public Library will take its Books Down Under outside on Saturday.

The organization’s annual Pop-Up Shop will run from 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21, just outside the library’s front doors on the plaza, 1242 Wilmette Ave.

The sale — with most items priced at $1 — will feature gently used books, DVDs, CDs, video games and more.

The event is cash only.

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