National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced thirteen Indian& Pakistani American Semifinalists students from Nevada in the 64^thannual National Merit Scholarship Program. Seven of the students are currently attending public schools in Las Vegas, three are from the private The Meadows School, while the other three are from Reno attending the prestigious The Davidson Academy of Nevada.

The 2019 National Merit Scholarship recipients are…

Devika Bararia, Ashish Kalakuntla, Shreya Kamojjala, Vidhushan Ramakrishnan, Simran Shah are currently attending Edward W. Clark High School, Las Vegas.  

Ananya Dewan is a student at the Northwest Career and Technical Academy.  

Shruthi Srinivas is attending Green Valley High School.  

Sam Mehdi, Malini Narula and Raatin Tanvir are currently attending The Meadows School.  

Yatin Chandear, Nikesh Mishra, and Vivek Yanamadula are students at the presitgious Davidson Academy of Nevada, Reno.

These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million that will be offered next spring. About 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 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2019 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2018 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® scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.