3 HPA seniors named finalists in 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program

Hawaii Preparatory Academy seniors Alicia Chow, Tanner Riley and Thomas Yoo were named finalists in the 62nd annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

The students will continue in the competition for 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth about $33 million that will be offered this spring.

Chow, the daughter of Ivan Chow and Lynda Chao of Waimea, is fluent in English and Mandarin. In linguistics, she has studied Latin and translation theory independently and through Stanford’s summer program; in anthropology, she is analyzing and comparing various aspects of Hawaiian, Greek and Roman mythologies; and in information technology, she is evaluating the school’s current use of social media and offering suggestions for improvement.

Riley, the son of Bryan and Tara Riley of Kailua-Kona, is a member of HPA’s theater department and completed two Hilo Marathons and the Maui Marathon as part of HPA’s training group. He is working on an independent project at the HPA Energy Lab, studying how sleep relates to memory in high school students. Riley has traveled extensively to the Philippines, Norway and England doing humanitarian work. Last summer, he earned a highly competitive scholarship through the National Institute of Health to attend a bio-med neuroscience camp in Ventura, Calif.

Yoo, the son of Sae Keun Yoo and Sun Won Moon of Seoul, South Korea, is a member of the school’s cross-country team and theater department. He also is founder and president of the HPA Cultural Inquiries Club. Last summer, Yoo interned in the marketing department of Delphi in Seoul, an auto parts company that supplies Hyundai Motors. Yoo is fluent in English and Korean.

National Merit Scholarship winners of 2017 will be announced beginning in April and concluding in July.