National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced nineteen South Asian American Semifinalists students from Nevada in the 65^th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. 

Fifteen of the students are currently attending public schools in Las Vegas, and one student is attending the private The Meadows School.  There are four students from Reno, Nevada.  Reno students include three from the prestigious The Davidson Academy of Nevada and one from the Reno area public school. Ten of the students are from the prestigious Clark High School Magnet program.

The 2020 National Merit Scholarship recipients are…

Ritvik Janamsetty – Coral Academy of Science, Las Vegas

Saad Chowdhry, Ajith Mathew – Coronado High School, Las Vegas

Shadman Kabir, Shaan Majid, Eesha Nanduri, Jay Parikh, Rishabh Saran, Abeerah Siddiqui, Ameya Singh, Eshaan Vakil, Meghana Veeramachaneni, Opalina Vetrichelvan – Edward W. Clark High School, Las Vegas

Rubaab Wahid – The Meadows School, Las Vegas

Krishna Patel, Raj Patel – West Career and Technical Academy, Las Vegas

Akaash Krishnan, Ashwin Murty, Emhyr Subramanian – The Davidson Academy of Nevada, Reno

Aryan Shukla – Sage Ridge School, Reno

These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $31 million that will be offered next spring. Over 90 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.

About 1.5 million juniors in more than 21,000 high schools entered the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2019 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants.

To become a Finalist, the Semifinalist and his or her high school must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the Semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. A Semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.