7 National Merit Commended Scholars For Westlake High

WESTLAKE, OH — Westlake High School announced Thursday that it has seven Commended Scholars from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. They join the seven students from their class that have been named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists.

The seven commended students are seniors Kimaya Bakhle, Avi P. Kirpekar, Lalitaditya Kulshreshtha, Gabriel A. Leonard, Connor Mahon, Patrick W. Smith and Norah M. Wilson. These students are able to become candidates for scholarships from corporations and business sponsors.

The commended students are among the 34,000 high scorers on the PSAT. (To stay up to date on local stories, subscribe to the Patch Westlake newsletter. As news breaks and the story develops, you will be the first to receive updates from Patch.)

The seven Westlake seniors to receive the designation of National Merit Semifinalists are Julia Aylward, Steven Brewer, Samantha Giusto, Ryan Karpuszka, Patrick Lee, Jack Wu and Kyle Yu. The Westlakers beat out 1.6 million students from 22,000 high schools across the nation. Those Semifinalists will now have the opportunity to compete for $34 million in National Merit Scholarships.

“Congratulations to Westlake’s seven National Merit Semifinalists,” said Superintendent Scott Goggin when the Semifinalists were announced. “They demonstrate the dedication to academic excellence and enthusiasm for learning that we foster in our students. I wish them the best of luck in the next phase of the National Merit Program.”

Photo from Westlake Schools