Tuesday, March 19, 2024

15 Dragons Recognized as National Merit Semifinalists

Carroll ISD is excited to celebrate 15 Dragons who have been named National Merit Semifinalists.

Recently, officials of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced the names of approximately 16,000 Semifinalists in the 66th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Overall, approximately 50,000 students are recognized as either Commended Students or Semifinalists. These academically talented high school seniors who achieve Semifinalist status have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $30 million that will be offered next spring.

To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. Over 90 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and more than half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title.

The following Dragons have been recognized as National Merit Semifinalists:

Alexander E Beres
Vivek N Chari
Stephen L Chuang
Carter S Doby
William R Grubbs
Luke B Hallenbeck
David W Lau
Preston L Lock
Adam J Lopez
Logan M Schaunarnan
Joseph G Sweeney
Darya Tadlaoui
Jessica L Yang
Peter M Zaluckyj
Isabella Zhou

NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 400 business organizations and higher education institutions that share NMSC’s goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.

Semifinalists pictured above (L-R):
Bottom Row: Jessica Yang, Darya Tadlaoui, Adam Lopez and William Grubbs; Second Row: Isabella Zhou and Preston Lock; Third Row: Vivek Chari, David Lau, Joseph Sweeney and Carter Doby; Fourth Row: Peter Zaluckyj and Luke Hallenbeck; Fifth Row (Top): Alex Beres and Logan Schaunarnan. Not pictured: Stephen Chuang.

Commended Scholars

In late September, more than two-thirds (about 34,000) of the approximately 50,000 high scorers on the PSAT/NMSQT received Letters of Commendation in recognition of their outstanding academic promise. Commended Students are named based on a nationally applied Selection Index score that may vary from year to year and is typically below the level required for participants to be named Semifinalists in their respective states. The 51 students from Carroll Senior High School who were recognized as commended students are:

Chase B. Adams
Aaron R. Ahmed
Rishik Bethi
Laura Brambilla
Jillian C. Brown
Andrew A. Butler
Tara L. Butler
Andrew W. Carlton
Shuran Chen
Saaketh R. Chennaiahgari
Samuel J. Colvin
Emma M. Costa
Griffin M. Davis
Gurarpan S. Dhatt
Kiera D. Dicesare
Connor T. Doyle
Michael A. Estridge
John P. Fergus
Bryan J. Fernando
Drake G. Ferri
Jeffrey J. Geng
Caroline A. Hao
Sophia A. Harder
Laurel H. Hook
Gabriella F. Jamall
Arnav R. Kasarla
Andrew C. Keady
Helen L. Keller
Bailey M. Koewing
Aakash Kurapati
Harry J. Lacast
Preston M. Lee
Kelan Lohler
Oscar Z. Lydick
Elizabeth R. McTaggart
Logan M. Mikolasik
Aamir S. Mohsin
Katelyn M. Moore
Hemanth Mukesh
Matthew J. Murday
Anna L. Ponzo
Riley C. Silfies
Megha H. Subhash
Carolyn H. Teng
Ava T. Twamley
Likhitha S. Veerapalli
Imaad A. Virani
Marygrace N. Wahby
Sophie M. Walters
Hayden J. Webb
Megan M. Wolf

An image of a family bowling and dining

Photo of a solar eclipse