3 Westlake Students Named National Merit Scholars

WESTLAKE, OH — Three Westlake High seniors have been named National Merit Scholars.

Isabella DiGiulio, Meghana Tandon and Talia Zheng are among the 2,500 students named Scholars this week. The students will receive $2,500 National Merit Scholarships through the National Merit Scholarships Corporation.

The three seniors were first named National Merit Finalists for 2019. After being named Finalists, the students had the chance to compete for approximately 7,500 National Merit Scholarships, worth more than $31 million. About half of all Finalists win a National Merit Scholarsihp.

Westlake High had six students named National Merit Finalists this year. Aside from DiGiulio, Tandon and Zheng, Claire Brewer, Mihir Shetty and Akhilesh Reddy also earned that honor.

Becoming a National Merit Finalist is a long journey. It starts when students are juniors in high school and they take the PSAT, which serves as an initial screen for program entrants. Of the 1.6 million students that take the test (from 22,000 high schools) less than 1 percent become National Merit Semifinalists.

The crop of Semifinalists is further thinned out when students are asked to submit their academic records, receive an endorsement and recommendation from their principal, and earn SAT scores that further confirm the student's earlier performance on the PSAT.

Semifinalists must also submit an essay and information about participation and leadership in school and community activities.