3 Harriton High School Seniors Win National Merit Scholarships

ROSEMONT, PA — Three students from Harriton High School have been named winners of National Merit Scholarships.

These three are among a group of more than 6,870 high school seniors who will get college-sponsored Merit Scholarships for undergraduate study worth nearly $26 million.

Below are Harriton's scholarship winners:

Vidhi S. Bhojwani, Haverford — University of Southern California
Probable career field: International Law

The University of Southern California is private, coeducational, and nonsectarian, and is located in the heart of the city of Los Angeles. Undergraduate enrollment is nearly 14,000 students. The College of Letters, Arts and Sciences is complemented by 19 professional and graduate schools offering undergraduate and graduate degrees. Graduate enrollment is about 12,000.

Andrew Y. Dai, Penn Valley — Lehigh University
Probable career field: Chemical Engineering

Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, is coeducational, nondenominational, and private. The three undergraduate Colleges of Arts and Science, Business and Economics, and Engineering are intertwined with the Graduate School, the School of Education, and the Institute of Research, permitting unusual attention to contemporary problems as well as traditional professional and preprofessional training. The enrollment is stabilized at 4,000.

Mathilde S. Reliquet, Wynnewood — University of Florida
Probable career field: Chemistry

The University of Florida is a premier public institution that the state, nation, and world look to for leadership. UF is committed to providing an affordable, world-class education to all students. With more than 100 undergraduate degree programs, UF offers many unique opportunities for students to become part of the Gator Nation, including excellence, discovery and innovation, community, and stewardship to excel in their educational endeavors and prepare for the future.

High school juniors entered the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants.

Last fall, more than 16,000 semifinalists were named on a state-representational basis in numbers proportional to each state’s percentage of the national total of graduating high school seniors.

Semifinalists were the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and represented less than one percent of the nation’s seniors.

To compete for Merit Scholarship awards, semifinalists first had to advance to the finalist level of the competition by fulfilling additional requirements.

Each semifinalist was asked to submit a detailed scholarship application, which included writing an essay and providing information about extracurricular activities, awards, and leadership positions.

Semifinalists also had to have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirmed the qualifying test performance.

From the semifinalist group, over 15,000 met requirements for finalist standing, and about half of the finalists will be Merit Scholarship winners in 2024.