13 Fremont Students Receive National Merit Scholarships

FREMONT, CA — Thirteen Fremont students were named National Merit Scholarship Corp. award winners this week. They are a diverse group, with plans to study medicine, computer science, and electrical engineering.

One student is homeschooled, another attends Fremont Christian High School, and the rest attend Fremont Unified School District high schools including Irvington, American, Washington, and Mission San Jose.

Winners were judged on their academic record, SAT and PSAT scores, participation in school and community activities, recommendations and essays. A team of college admissions officers and high school counselors chose the finalists.

Merit Scholars were announced Wednesday and included the following Fremont students:

• Arjun S. Bothra, Probable career field: Undecided, IRVINGTON H. S.
• Jack Burd, Probable career field: Electrical Engineering, MISSION SAN JOSE H. S.
• Christopher Y. Chou, Probable career field: Computer Science, WASHINGTON H. S.
• Brian Fu, Probable career field: Medicine, AMERICAN H. S.
• Rachel Kavalakatt, Probable career field: Medicine, IRVINGTON H. S.
• Farrah X. Lin, Probable career field: Medicine, MISSION SAN JOSE H. S.
• Shivek Narang, Probable career field: Medicine, HOMESCHOOL
• Allison R. Peng, Probable career field: Medicine, MISSION SAN JOSE H. S.
• Tyler P. Shern, Probable career field: Surgical Medicine, MISSION SAN JOSE H. S.
• Anoushka Shrivastava, Probable career field: Computer Science, MISSION SAN JOSE H. S.,
• Anirudh Valiveru, Probable career field: Computer Science, MISSION SAN JOSE H. S.
• Anika Wadhera, Probable career field: Medical Research, MISSION SAN JOSE H. S.
• Alice Y. Zhou, Probable career field: Computer Science, FREMONT CHRISTIAN H. S.

This announcement marked the second round of National Merit Scholarship awardees in 2021. Additional winners will be announced June 2 and July 12.

The National Merit Scholarship Corp. said it will award a total of $30 million to 7,500 "academic champions" by this fall.

— Written by Courtney Teague with additional reporting by Bea Karnes