National Merit Scholars From Naperville Announced

NAPERVILLE, IL — The next group of 2021 National Merit Scholarship winners include 16 high school students from Naperville.

The National Merit winners from Naperville are among the more than 3,100 announced nationally this year to receive between $500 and $2,000 scholarships from colleges and universities across the country, the National Merit Scholarship Corp. said in a news release Wednesday.

National Merit Scholarship winners from Naperville in 2021 include:

• Anjana Bharadwaj, of Neuqua Valley High School, who earned a scholarship to study computer science at University of Texas at Dallas
• Juliana Canham, of Waubonsie Valley High School, who earned a scholarship to study biochemistry at University of Florida
• Neema Darabi, of Neuqua Valley High School, who earned a scholarship to study medicine at University of Chicago
• Aiden M. Fockens, of Naperville Central High School, who earned a scholarship to study computer science at Boston University
• Arthur Graham, of Naperville Central High School, who earned a scholarship to study government service at University of Alabama
• Braden Hajer, of Naperville Central High School, who earned a scholarship to study music composition at University of Chicago
• Jack M. Horvath, of Benet Academy, who earned a scholarship to study computer science at University of Alabama
• Rohan Jaiswal, of Neuqua Valley High School, who earned a scholarship to study medicine at Loyola University Chicago
• Piper B. Jourdan, Neuqua Valley High School, who earned a scholarship to study law at University of Alabama
• Jay S. Mutum, of Lisle High School, who earned a scholarship to study computer science at University of Minnesota
• Megan S. Rajan, of Neuqua Valley High School, who earned a scholarship to study pediatric neurosurgery at University of Southern California
• Caroline E. Reynolds, of Neuqua Valley High School, who earned a scholarship to study music at University of North Texas
• Janelle M. Smith, of Naperville North High School, who earned a scholarship to study medicine at University of Minnesota
• David Wang, of Naperville Central High School, who earned a scholarship to study medicine at Boston University
• Colin Yao, of Naperville Central High School, who earned a scholarship to study mathematics at University of Chicago
• Ian H. Zhang, of Neuqua Valley High School, who earned a scholarship to study economics at University of Chicago

The National Merit winners announced this week will have their scholarships funded by the colleges and universities that they will attend. One hundred and sixty colleges and universities — including 85 private and 75 public schools — took part in the merit scholarship program in 2021.

An additional group of college-sponsored National Merit scholars will be announced in July, the scholarship corporation said. This group is part of the approximately 7,500 National Merit scholarship winners who will be selected by the end of 2021. National Merit scholarships via corporate-sponsored awards and the corporation’s own $2,500 scholarships were announced earlier in the spring.

2 Naperville Students Named National Merit Scholarship Winners

More than 1.5 million juniors nationally entered the 2021 National Merit scholarship program when they took the 2019 preliminary SAT/National Merit scholarship qualifying test, the corporation said. About 17,000 semifinalists, fewer than 1 percent of the country’s high school seniors, were announced last fall.

Semifinalists had to write an essay and detail their extracurricular activities, awards and leadership positions to become a finalist. About half of the 16,000 finalists will be merit scholars by the end of the year, the corporation said.