Thirty-three District 196 seniors are receiving special recognition this fall for scores they achieved on a national standardized test they took last year as juniors. Twelve students are semifinalists in the 2023-24 National Merit Scholarship Program, 14 are National Merit commended students, and seven were selected for recognition in the College Board’s African American and Hispanic recognition programs.

The 12 National Merit Scholarship semifinalists in District 196 are:

• Ajay B Singh of Apple Valley High School;
• Samson Axelrod, Jacob Braginsky and Huy Vo of Eagan High School;
• Khoa Nguyen, Wyatt Peick, Ethan Phua, Elsie Warren, Mazuki Wu and Julie Zhang of Eastview High School, and
• Brayden Herzberg and Vanessa Huang of Rosemount High School.

Students are selected for recognition in the National Merit Scholarship Program based on their scores on the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which they take as juniors. Semifinalists rank in the top 1% of students who took the test. They may submit additional information to be considered for selection as a finalist. Students named National Merit finalists next spring will compete for more than 7,000 scholarships totaling nearly $28 million awarded by businesses, colleges and universities, and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

Students whose scores on the PSAT/NMSQT rank them in the top 5% of students nationwide receive letters of commendation in recognition of their outstanding academic promise. In District 196, the following 14 seniors are 2023-24 National Merit commended students: Ishaan Koratkar of Eagan High; Rasin Hussain, Aver Kahar, Samuel Kenney, Elisabeth Lambert, Sahasra Molleti, Isaac Nicolai, Aimen Patel and Matthew Yin of Eastview High, and Lauren Begich, Katherine Buesing, Achyuth Kasthoori, Matthew Pasillas and Noah Rodenwald of Rosemount High.

The College Board also recognizes 11th grade Black, Indigenous and Latino students who have a GPA of 3.5 and higher, rank in the top 10% on the PSAT and/or have earned a score of 3 or higher on two or more AP exams in their freshman and sophomore years. Rosemount High’s Adonias Ketema, Pritschet Ondara, Debora Tadese, Michael Thomas and Nicholas Zweber were selected for the National African American Recognition

Program, and Eva Finn Nowlin of Rosemount and Carter Veen of Eagan High were selected for the National Hispanic Recognition Program. These students and the National Merit semifinalists and commended students will be recognized at the Oct. 9 regular School Board meeting in District 196.