San Mateo County Students Win National Merit Scholarships

SAN MATEO COUNTY, CA — Twenty-seven San Mateo County students received National Merit Scholarship awards of $2500, which were awarded by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation's own funds.

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 $2,500 scholarship winners' names, schools, and probable career fields:

• Carly Bodnick, The Nueva School, design engineering
• Megan Newby, Sacred Hearth Prepatory School, public policy
• William Berger, Design Tech High School, mechanical engineering
• Audrey A Clusin, Carlmont High School, economics
• Mitchell E. Feldman, Carlmont High School, economics
• Manya Sinvhal Humar, Carlmont High School, computer science
• David X. Meng, Burlingame High School, business economics
• Andrew X. Dong, Aragon High School, biology
• Trisha A. Sabadra, San Mateo High School, computer sciences
• Rohan Moore Dalal, Crystal Springs Uplands School, government service
• Saahil Mishra , Lick-Wilmerding High School, academia
• Dylan Pu, The Nueva School, public health
• Natalie Sepulveda, The Nueva School, elementary education
• Lilah S. Chen, Menlo-Atherton High School, law
• Celine Chien, Menlo-Atherton High School, journalism
• Christine Ryu, Castilleja School, biology
• Cole Kawaja, Woodside Priory School, public policy
• Diya Verma, Castilleja School, academia
• Astra A. Adams, Woodside High School, video game design
• Andrew Duh, Woodside Priory School, medicine
• Kate L. Stevenson, Woodside High School, physical therapy
• Mason Y. Cao, Carlmont High School, computer engineering
• Christine Chang, Sequoia High School, physics
• Mackenzie Joelle Chan, Design Tech High School, computer engineering
• Katherine Yang, Crystal Springs Uplands School, healthcare
• Chloe X. Chou, Westmoor High School, computer science
• Madeline Y. Lee, Woodside High School, law

In April, three other San Mateo County students received the corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship awards.

Winners of college-sponsored Merit Scholarships will be announced June 4 and July 14. By the end of the 2025, more than 6,930 students nationwide will have earned National Merit Scholarships totaling approximately $26 million, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.