Pleasanton Students Win College-Sponsored National Merit Scholarships

PLEASANTON, CA — Two Pleasanton students received college-sponsored National Merit Scholarship awards. The awards range between $500 and $2000, and are given by different colleges and universities to National Merit Scholarship finalists who plan to attend in the upcoming year.

This year, 138 colleges and universities are sponsoring more than 3,250 Merit Scholarship awards.

In total, 6,500 students nationwide have been awarded a total of nearly $24 million National Merit Scholarships.

In September, more than 16,000 semifinalists were selected on the basis of their PSAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test scores. To advance to the finalist round, semifinalists needed to have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed or recommended by a high school official, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm their qualifying test performance.

The following Pleasanton students received National Merit sponsorships:

• Joshua Dai, Foothill High School, Harvey Mudd College
• Jio Lee, Amador Valley High School, Harvey Mudd College

In May, the following Pleasanton students won scholarships sponsored by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation:

• Yash Balaji, Amador Valley High School
• Athithan Elamaran, Foothill High School
• Nathaniel Hong, Amador Valley High School
• Brandon Maximus Kong, Foothill High School
• Hanyu Niu, Amador Valley High School
• William Peng, Foothill High School
• Siddhan Shah, Amador Valley High School
• Reese Zhou, Amador Valley High School (Dublin resident)

SEE ALSO:

• 65 Pleasanton Students Named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists