​Dublin High Student is National Merit Scholarship Recipient

The initial list of 2020 National Merit Scholars was announced this week and features 8 students from the Tri-Valley Area including Dublin High’s Mihika Sharma.

When approached to comment on her response to the announcement Mihika said "I was shocked, to say the least. This whole process of being named a National Merit Scholar Semifinalist, then Finalist, then Winner has felt kind of surreal throughout. I'm extremely grateful to everyone who played a part in helping me achieve this, and would like to say a special thank you to my parents, and DHS staff Ms Halket, Ms. Chou, Mrs Nobida, Mr. Brown and Principal Byrne. I plan to use the scholarship wisely, and take advantage of the many opportunities at Berkeley!"

The National Merit Scholarship Program (NMSP) honors individual students who show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies. The program cautions that it does not measure the quality or effectiveness of education within a school, system, or state.

The initial list of 2020 National Merit Scholars includes 42 students across 24 schools in the Bay Area.

Academic and leadership skills, extracurricular exploits in school and community, along with potential to succeed in college were used to assess the finalists.

"Mihika is one of the most impressive students I have ever met while working at Dublin High School. She is incredibly smart, genuinely kind and very outgoing. She takes advantage of so many opportunities and excels at each and every one of them. Mihika is going to do so many amazing things with her life and I know she will build a very bright future, not only for herself but for all of us!" said Mrs Leann Nobida, College and Career Specialist at Dublin High School.

Over 1.5 million juniors in approximately 21,000 high schools entered the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2018 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants.

In an announcement posted on Facebook by the Dublin Unified School District it was stated that Ms. Sharma, who will be attending U.C. Berkeley, studying Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, received a scholarship of $8,000. The scholarship, funded by Genentech, will be paid out at $2,000 per year for four years. Mihika says she could not have achieved this recognition without the guidance of her teachers at Dublin High School. She also thanks Ms. Lewis, and Ms. Sweeney, both of whom introduced her to Speech and Debate at Fallon Middle School.

“Dublin High has many amazing scholars who not only are brilliant but also involved and passionate about making contributions to society. Mihika is one such scholar. She is an excellent, engaged student and remarkable human being. Mihika will continue to make a positive impact on this world and we are so proud that she is a GAEL.” said Dublin High School Principal Maureen Byrne.

Corporate-sponsored recipients for 2020 of this prestigious award from the Tri-Valley Area are:

1. City: Dublin | High School: Dublin :

Recipient: Mihika Sharma, Intended field of study: Computer Science

2. City: Pleasanton | High School: Foothill :

Recipient: Austin C. Yeung, Intended field of study: Computer Engineering

3. City: Pleasanton | High School: Amador Valley :

Recipient: Kaleb H. Dawit, Intended field of Study: Computer Science

4. City: San Ramon | High School: California

Megan N. Hoang, Intended field of study: Law

5. City: San Ramon | High School: Dougherty Valley

Jennifer Huang, Intended field of study: Economics

Rahi Kotadia, Intended field of study: Computer Science

Jeevan S. Rajkumar, Intended field of study: Medicine

John R. Wang, Intended field of study: Computer Science

When her parents, Rohit and Priyanka Sharma were asked how they felt when hearing the news they said "We felt elated and very happy for Mihika. She has been a very determined and consistent student, driven by her desire to make a positive change in the world. The National Merit Scholarship felt like an affirmation and acknowledgement of her efforts throughout middle and high school."

NMSC, a not-for-profit organization indicates on their website that it operates without government assistance and was established in 1955 to conduct the National Merit Scholarship Program. The majority of National Merit Scholarships offered each year are underwritten by some 400 independent corporate and college sponsors that support NMSC’s efforts to honor the nation’s scholastically talented youth and encourage academic excellence at all levels of education.