Nine local students were among those named National Merit Scholarship recipients in the latest round of awards.
The students are part of a group of more than 800 National Merit Finalists chosen to receive additional scholarships financed by higher education institutions. They join the original group of college-sponsored award recipients announced in June.
Winners of the scholarships from the local area, with their probable career fields in parentheses, are:
• Shashank Vardhan Cheruvu of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology (computer science), National Merit University of Maryland Scholarship.
• Pranav Vadde of Thomas Jefferson (aerospace engineering), National Merit Purdue University Scholarship.
• Srishanth Tangedipalli of Thomas Jefferson (medicine), National Merit Case Western Reserve University Scholarship.
• Shira Gottesman of Thomas Jefferson (biology), National Merit Brandeis University Scholarship.
• Hardeep Mann of Thomas Jefferson (cardiology), National Merit Virginia Commonwealth University Scholarship.
• Pranav Panicker of Thomas Jefferson (computer science), National Merit University of Maryland Scholarship.
• Milan Nguyen of McLean High School (international relations), National Merit Northeastern University Scholarship.
• Alexandra Toporowicz of Thomas Jefferson (medicine), National Merit Virginia Commonwealth University Scholarship.
• Karthik Thyagarajan of Thomas Jefferson (computer science), National Merit Purdue University Scholarship.
Each award provides between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the recipient’s scholarship.
This final group of recipients brings the number of 2024 National Merit Scholars to more than 6,900 garnering nearly $26 million in scholarship funds.
