9 Naperville Students Named 2025 National Merit Scholars

NAPERVILLE, IL — Nine Naperville students are among 2,900 high schoolers nationwide who received a 2025 college-sponsored scholarship from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC). Each student receives a scholarship of up to $2,500 a year to help further their education.

The awards are given to students based on their scores on the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test scores. Semfinalists are evaluated based on a scholarship application with an essay, their academic records and participation in extracurricular activities.

The following Naperville students were named National Merit Scholars in this round of awards:

• Teagan Bernstein-Meachum, who plans to study academia at the University of Alabama.
• Soren A. Casey, of Naperville North High School, who plans to study finance at Fordham University.
• Zachary Druce-Hoffman, of Neuqua Valley High School, who plans to study aerospace engineering at Iowa State University.
• Moneesha Goduguchinta, of Metea Valley High School, who plans to study aerospace engineering at Purdue University.
• Varsha R. Nair, of Neuqua Valley High School, who plans to study medicine at University of South Florida.
• Bridget A. Ogan, of Naperville North High School, who plans to study marketing at Indiana University.
• Jayram Palamadai, of Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, who plans to study computer science at Purdue University.
• Aditya Rakshit, of Neuqua Valley High School, who plans to study computer engineering at Vanderbilt University.
• WIlliam X. Wang, of Naperville Central High School, who plans to study mechanical engineering at Purdue University.

This year, National Merit Scholarship Corporation plans to award over 6,930 students National Merit Scholarships worth a total of around $26 million.