Tampa Bay National Merit Finalists Named

TAMPA BAY, FL — Tampa Bay college-sponsored Merit Scholarship winners are a part of the distinguished group of about 7,600 high school seniors who will receive National Merit Scholarships for college undergraduate study worth more than $30 million.

Earlier this spring, NMSC announced winners of corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards and National Merit $2,500 Scholarships.

More than 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 , which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Last fall, approximately 16,000 semifinalists were named on a state-representational basis in numbers proportional to each state’s percentage of the national total of graduating high school seniors.

Semifinalists were the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and represented less than 1 percent of the nation’s seniors.

To compete for Merit Scholarship awards, semifinalists first had to advance to the finalist level of the competition by fulfilling additional requirements. Each semifinalist was asked to submit a detailed scholarship application, which included writing an essay and providing information about extracurricular activities, awards and leadership positions.

Semifinalists also had to have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirmed the qualifying test performance.

From the semifinalist group, some 15,000 met requirements for finalist standing, and about half of the finalists will be Merit Scholarship winners in 2020.

NMSC, a not-for-profit corporation that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 to conduct the National Merit Scholarship Program. The majority of National Merit Scholarships provided each year are made possible by the support of approximately 400 independent corporate and college sponsors.

Tampa Bay winners include:

• Ryan J. Harding of Brandon for the University of Central Florida to major in computer science
• Amy P. Pham of Brandon for the University of South Florida to major in medicine
• Collin R. Talbot of Brandon to the University of Florida to major in bioengineering
• Sean M. Florek of Clearwater to the University of Florida to major in medicine
• Ethan N. Nguyen of Clearwater to the University of Central Florida to major in mechanical engineering
• Nicholas C. Gray of Dade City to the University of Central Florida to major in computer science
• Emily M. Branham of Lakeland to Liberty University to major in academia
• Steven Miltenberger of Land O' Lakes to the University of Florida to major in computer science
• Joshua R. Mott of Largo to the University of Florida to major in mathematics
• Brodie S. Brown of Lithia to the University of Alabama to major in physics
• Jayden C. Capella of Lithia to Vanderbilt University to major in medicine
• Emily R. Flinter of Lutz to Emory University to major in medicine
• Rebekah F. Hurwitz of Lutz to the University of Florida to major in actuarial science
• Vivek Kondapavuluru of Lutz to the University of Florida to major in medicine
• Rana Xen Scherer of Lutz to Central Florida University to major in electrical engineering
• Riya T. Choksi of Odessa to the University of South Florida to major in medicine
• Leigh R. Ives of Odessa to the University of Florida to major in music
• Noelle Esposito of Palm Harbor to the University of Florida to major in mechnical engineering
• Mateusz Plaza of Palm Harbor to the University of Florida to major in computer science
• Riley B. Skiles of Plant City to Liberty University to major in neurology
• Charles B. Phillips of Redington Beach to Florida State University to major in international relations
• Haidyn C. Sekeres of Seminole to the University of Florida to major in medicine
• Angitha Reji of Spring Hill to the University of Florida to major in economics
• Paul G. Fernandez of St. Petersburg to the University of Florida to major in economics
• Aidan B. Higgs of St. Petersburg to the University of Florida to major in medical research
• Sophia H. Hirst of St. Petersburg to the University of Florida to major in pediatric psychology
• Sebastian P. Newell of St. Petersburg to the University of Florida to major in mathematics
• Vasishta Akinapalli of Tampa to the University of Florida to major in nuclear engineering
• Robert B. Anderson of Tampa to the University of Florida to major in computer science
• Fariah Ansari of Tampa to the University of South Florida to major in biological engineering
• Christopher J. Browy of Tampa to the University of Florida to major in economics
• Cassandra A. Colaco of Tampa to Northwestern University to major in medicine
• Savari Datta of Tampa to the University of Florida to major in aerospace engineering
• Lindsey M. Gabler of Tampa to the University of Georgia with an undecided major
• Amiya Clare Gupta of Tampa to the University of Florida to major in education
• Charles T. Hobby of Tampa to Southern Methodist University to major in engineering
• Ryan B. Hobson of Tampa to the University of Florida to major in computer science
• Hamilton M. Jones of Tampa to the University of Florida to major in biomedical engineering
• Noah R Kilpatrick of Tampa to the Univeersity of Alabama to major in economics
• Alexandra C. Kirkner of Tampa to the University of Florida to major in biomedical engineering
• Lucy J. Morris of Tampa to Southern Methodist University to major in medical research
• Sania K. Munir of Tampa to the University of Florida to major in health care
• Tien Minh Nguyen of Tampa to the University of Florida to major in law
• Reema D. Patel of Tampa to the University of Florida to major in psychology
• Richard Andrew Sebek of Tampa to Florida State University to major in economics
• Nicole Su of Tampa to the University of South Florida to major in biomedicine
• Giovanni B. Taylor of Tampa to the University of Central Florida to major in video game design
• Uma Vogeti of Tampa to the University of Florida to major in biomedical engineering
• Bethany A. Bradshaw of Trinity to the University of Central Florida to major in aerospace engineering
• Dustin G. Rendell of Trinity to the University of Florida to major in medicine
• Julia G. Bower of Valrico to the University of Central Florida to major in finance
• Kathryn A. Reinhardt of Valrico to Liberty University to major in software engineering
• Shannon S. Chen of Wesley Chapel to the University of Florida to major in dentistry
• Mindy L. Do of Wesley Chapel to the University of South Florida to major in health care
• Achyudham R. Kutuva of Wesley Chapel to the University of Florida to major in science research
• Stanley S. Moonjeli of Wesley Chapel to the University of Florida to major in robotics.