8 West Chester Area Students Named National Merit Scholars

WEST CHESTER, PA — Several high school students from the West Chester area have earned one of the more distinguished honors possible for a high school student: the National Merit Scholarship.

Four were named finalist winners:

• Laura Dodds, computer science, Pennsyvlania Leadership Charter School
• Andrew Mutch, finance, Westtown School
• David Linskens, computer programming, Unionville High School
• Susanna Rastelli, chemical engineering, Academy of Notre Dame de Namur, Villanova

Only 2,500 finalist winners were chosen from a pool of more than 15,000 students from around the nation.

Winners are selected purely on merit, without consideration of their family financial circumstances, college choice, major, or career plans. Students are evaluated on standardized test scores, academic record, leadership and community activities, a recommendation, and an essay.

Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 410 business organizations and higher education institutions, according to the news release.

Four more students were named National Merit Corporate Scholarship winners:

• Ryan O'Donnell, biomedical engineering, Westtown School
• Ramya Muthukrishnan, biomedical engineering, Henderson
• Katherine O'Malley, mechanical engineering, Rustin
• Harini Peri, law, Unionville High School

About 1,000 seniors around the country were granted corporate scholarships, which are given to students who make it to the finalist level of the NMS competition and also meet the criteria of the companies involved.

Patch file photo