34 Solon High Students Named National Merit Semifinalists

SOLON, OH — Thirty-four Solon High School students have been named semifinalists in the 2022 National Merit Scholarship competition.

To qualify as semifinalists, students have to score among the top 1 percent of PSAT test takers. More than 3 million students take the test each year, while only 16,000 are named semifinalists.

“Everyone at Solon High School is very proud to see so many members of our senior class recognized as 2022 National Merit Scholarship semi-finalists,” said Solon High School Principal Erin Short. “With this news, our senior class has already begun making its mark with a strong academic legacy. The high numbers of Solon students recognized through the National Merit Scholar program every year reflects the hard work and commitment of students and staff and depth of achievement at Solon High School and throughout the Solon Schools.”

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Solon High's semifinalists are:

• Srihan Anand,
• Mira Atwah,
• Timothy Barron,
• Meghna Bettaiah,
• Vaibhav Bhargava,
• Shree Ghosh,
• Gabriele Glusauskas
• Ryan Goldfeder
• Adina Guo
• Lucas He
• Rohan Jaiswal
• Simone Johnson
• Aaron Kaiser
• Eugenia Karulina
• Dara Klugherz
• Andrew Li
• Ryan Li
• Grant Maiorana
• Lindsey Maurer
• Yubin Moon
• Pranav Nampoothiripad
• Jared Ogle
• Ava Parikh
• Michelle Park
• Avani Pham
• Oshin Samuel
• Lily Scherer
• Andrew Shao
• Easton Singer
• John Williams
• Iris Yu
• Alanna Zhang
• Scott Zhao
• Dennis Zhitenev

They will have an opportunity to become finalists and then compete for a pool of scholarships collectively worth $30 million.

To become National Merit Scholarship finalists, high school officials and the semifinalist must submit a detailed scholarship application including information on their academic record, participation in school and community activities, information on how they demonstrate leadership, employment history, and any honors they've received. A high school official must endorse the student, while the both writes an essay about themselves while scoring high on their SAT or ACT.

Of the 16,000 semifinalists, approximately 15,000 will become finalists. Finalists will be announced in February.

Scholarship winners will be selected from the pool of finalists.