2 Oswego East Students Named National Merit Finalists

OSWEGO, IL — Two students from Oswego East High School have been chosen to be National Merit Scholarship finalists, Oswego School District 308 officials announced Monday.

Aryav Bothra and Zayd A. Khan are among more than 15,000 other finalists from across the country who are competing in the competition that will determine about 7,500 winners. By making it this far in the competition, the finalists were given a Certificate of Merit from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

To determine the winners, the NMSC analyzes a variety of information, including each finalist's academic record, school curriculum and grading system, PSAT/NMSQT Selection Index score, the high school official's written recommendation, information about the student's activities and leadership, and the finalist's own essay.

Winners will be chosen to receive one of three scholarships: National Merit $2,500 Scholarship, Corporate-Sponsored Merit Scholarship and College-Sponsored Merit Scholarship.

Finalists will begin finding out if they were selected for an award in March, district officials said.