The National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced 13 South Asian American students, out of approximately 16,000 Semifinalists, in the 68^th annual National Merit Scholarship winners from Nevada. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,250 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28 million that will be offered in 2023 spring. This year there are six Indian-American students, an all time record, from the highly rated Clark High School’s magnet program.

2023 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists are…

• Sarah E. Chemplavil – Green Valley High School
• Nirav Banerji – Clark High School
• Sanjana S. Dixit – Clark High School
• Armaan C. Parikh – Clark High School 
• Tharani Gunaseelan – Clark High School
• Ojas G. Kadam – Clark High School
• Sudipta Rout – Clark High School
• Nikhil Wadhwa – Bishop Gorman High School
• Shayaan S. Zaidi – The Meadows School
• Ananya Madhira – Academy of Arts, Careers and Technology, Reno
• Arvind M. Murty – The Davidson Academy, Reno
• Archit S. Dash – Galena High School, Reno
• Riyaa Rajesh – Galena High School, Reno

High school juniors entered the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2021 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants.  The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

To become a Finalist, the Semifinalist and a high school official 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.

From over 16,000 Semifinalists, more than 15,000 are expected to advance to the Finalist level, and in February they will be notified of this designation. All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from this group of Finalists.