Pleasanton Students Win National Merit Scholarships

PLEASANTON, CA — Seven high school students from Pleasanton on Monday were named National Merit Scholars, a prestigious designation for 2,500 students that comes with a $2,500 scholarship.

The scholarship winners were selected out of 15,000 candidates across the country, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corp. A committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors selected the winners as having the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills and potential for success in college.

Finalists were judged based on their Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test score, their academic record, an essay, extracurricular activities and a recommendation from a high school official.

In Pleasanton, the following winners were announced alongside their probable career fields.

• Sujay Champati, Quarry Lane School, astronautics.
• Tom Li, Amador Valley High School, law.
• Emma Lin, Foothill High School, entrepreneurship.
• Lily Mobraaten, Foothill High School, public policy.
• Hiya Shah, Amador Valley High School, computer science.
• Jonah Wang, Amador Valley High School, law.

The National Merit Scholarship awards are financed by the National Merit Scholarship Committee. Other National Merit Scholarships are underwritten by about 400 corporations or company foundations.

Scholarship finalists have been announced on a staggered basis since fall 2021, when 16,000 high school seniors who scored in the top 1 percent of the PSAT were named semifinalists.

In April, about 1,000 corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholars were named, and on June 1 and July 11, 4,000 more college-sponsored scholarship winners will be announced. By the end of 2022, the National Merit Scholarship Corp. estimated that 7,500 scholars will have been awarded a total of about $28 million.

In April, five students from Amador Valley were awarded corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarships.