In unchallenged remarkable academic achievements of Indian American community youth, the National Merit Scholarship Corp has announced three Indian Americans – Divya Ramakrishnan, Ariel Gupta and Karthik Rohatgi the winners of 2014 National Merit Scholarship.

The 2,500 Merit Scholar designees were chosen from a talent pool of more than 15,000 outstanding Finalists in the 2014 National Merit Scholarship Program. 

National Merit $2500 Scholarship winners are the Finalists in each state judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies. The number of winners named in each state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the nation’s graduating high school seniors.

Divya Ramakrishnan of Las Vegas is a senior at the Meadows School and is planning to continue her college education in Biochemistry. Divya led her Meadows School Science Bowl  team to the regional championship and will be competing in the National championship this April.  Besides, for the last two years, she had been the individual sweepstakes winner in JCL Latin competitions.

On the extra-curricular side, she is the setter of the Varsity volleyball team and she plays clarinet for the school bands. Divya, daughter of Gopal and Radhika Ramakrishnan, is aspiring to be Neonatologist and planning to purse her college education at either Stanford, Harvard or Princeton.

Ariel Gupta of Reno, NV is graduating from Reno High School, Reno, NV and is planning to join an Engineering program.

Karthik Rohatgi, also of Reno, NV, is graduating from an elite Davidson Academy of Nevada and is planning a career in Academia.  At Davidson Academy, Karthik launched Farm Fresh For Kids (FFFK).  Farm Fresh for Kids aims to combat obesity by helping economically disadvantaged families consume more fresh fruits and vegetables, while also supporting local farmers.  Karthik talked about his Farm Fresh For Kids program on Ted Talks.  Click here to watch the video… http://www.frequency.com/video/farm-fresh-for-kids-karthik-rohatgi-at/100798812/-/4-2004

These three outstanding Indian American scholars were selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors, who appraised a substantial amount of information submitted by both the Finalists and their high schools: the academic record, including difficulty level of subjects studied and grades earned; scores from two standardized tests; contributions and leadership in school and community activities; an essay written by the Finalist; and a recommendation written by a high school official.