Record-Breaking 60 Troy Students Named National Merit Scholar Semifinalists

The following information was provided by the Troy School District.

The is proud to report that sixty TSD students are being honored by the National Merit Scholarship Program – the highest number in the history of the district.

Fifty-nine were named 2013 National Merit Scholar Semifinalists, and two students were designated National Achievement Scholars. One student, Taylor N. Matthew, falls into both categories.

“We are incredibly proud of the achievement of these students,” Superintendent Barbara A. Fowler said. “To have 60 Troy School District students singled out among all the students in the nation is quite an honor. It’s a testament to their hard work, the support of their parents, the quality of our teaching staff and the rigor of the TSD curriculum.”

On Wednesday, officials of National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced the names of approximately 16,000 Semifinalists in the 58th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These academically-talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,300 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition.

About 90 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and more than half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.

NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 440 business organizations and higher education institutions that share NMSC's goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.

2013 TSD National Merit Scholar Semifinalists

Achanta, Aditya 
Ahmed, Syed F. 
Chandra, Nitin S. 
Chen, Dorothy 
Chen, Kathleen M. 
Fan, Justin 
Gangisetty, Akhil S. 
Halushka, Kellie E. 
Harinatayan, Lavanya 
Huang, Cary 
Huang, Eric L. 
Huang, Olena L. 
Huq, Farah 
Kim, Jihyun 
Kim, Lawrence 
Lee, Eunbyul 
Lee, Vivien 
Li, Maxwell W. 
Liang, Ally 
Liu, Christine 
Lourim, Jacob B. 
Ma, Sara L. 
Maruthi, Rohit 
Mohanarangan, Karthik 
Park, G-Su 
Qiao, Edmund M. 
Raskind, Anna 
Seifeldin, Omar R. 
Sivaraman, Apara 
Talarico, Marie E. 
Wang, Hanlu 
Wen, Zhaoqing 
Yang, Phillip 
Yang, Xinrui 

Bargiel, Eric M. 
Ghosh, Promit 
Ittoop, Thomas J. 
Janness, Hunter P. 
Ward, Anthony R. 
Wu, Grace C. 
Yu, Michael Y. 

Chowdhury, Aulina 
Creech, Chandler J. 
Desai, Nishant R. 
Grosu, Ioana 
Jia, James W. 
Levin, Elayna R. 
Li, Eileen J. 
Li, Sophia R. 
Ma, Philip H. 
Matthew, Taylor N. (National Merit Semifinalist and National Achievement Scholar) 
Molenda, Monika A. 
Prabhu, Raghav 
Ravi, Manisha 
Saifuddin, Hiba 
Su, Iris S. 
Tadepalli, Shreekari 
Tang, Yu 
Zhou, Helen L.
Faison, Aaron (National Achievement Scholar)