Livermore Students Win College-Sponsored National Merit Scholarships

LIVERMORE, CA — Two Granada High School students received college-sponsored National Merit Scholarship awards. The awards range between $500 and $2500, and are given by different college and universities to National Merit Scholarship finalists who plan to attend in the upcoming year.

Livermore was the only Tri-Valley city with recipients of college-sponsored National Merit Scholarships so far, though more will be announced in July.

In September, more than 16,000 semifinalists were selected on the basis of their PSAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test scores. To advance to the finalist round, semifinalists needed to have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed or recommended by a high school official, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm their qualifying test performance.

Below are the finalists’ names, schools, scholarship names, and probable career fields:

• Rishabh Manesh, National Merit Purdue University Scholarship, chemistry
• Caspar Markel, National Merit University of Nevada, RenoScholarship, computer science

So far, four other Livermore students who won National Merit Scholarships. Three received awards sponsored by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation:

• Audrey Hana Manley, Granada High School, engineering
• Aarav Mehta, Granada High School, computer engineering
• Kate Wang, Granada High School, public policy

One was sponsored by the Battelle Memorial Institute:

• Grace Gallagher, Livermore High School, undecided