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District 196 Students recognized by National Merit and College Board
District 196 Students recognized by National Merit and College Board

Forty-seven District 196 seniors are receiving special recognition this fall for scores they achieved on a national standardized test taken last year as juniors. Eleven students are semifinalists in the 2024-25 National Merit Scholarship Program, 22 are National Merit commended students, and 14 were selected for recognition in the College Board’s African American, Hispanic, and First Generation recognition programs. District 196 recognized these students at the October 7, 2024 School Board meeting.

The 11 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists in District 196 are:

  • Louisa Brandt, Alex Huang, and Elizabeth Kerr of Eagan High School;
  • Ashton Abram, Sannidh Bachigari, Max Huberty, Claire Rutherford, Kartik Saravanapandi, Nirav Singhal, and May Tang of Eastview High School, and
  • Daniel Begnaud 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 scholarships totaling nearly $26 million awarded by businesses, colleges and universities, and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. National Merit Scholarship winners of 2025 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July.


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 22 seniors are 2024-25 National Merit commended students: Piper Trudeau of Apple Valley High School; Eva Abe, Adhitya Balasubramanian, Sean Christianson, Mason Deitering, Harley Gray, Neo Manavalan, Carson Radant, Param Thakkar, Mia Werden of Eagan High School; Emily Brewster, Chloe Larson, Virinchi Nandamuru, Tarakesh Rameshkumar, Sumana Sadineni, Nicholas Zylstra of Eastview High School; Eshan Ahmed, Keira Favre, Sophie Gunyan, Isabella Huss, Matthew Leholm of Rosemount High School; and Naomi Hudson of the School of Environmental Science.


The College Board also recognizes students who identify as Black, Indigenous, Latino, and First Generation (added in 2024) 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. The following 15 students earned recognition: Laeton Olaleye, Herawie Kebede, Aevyn Nguyen, Maggie Xu, Alana Zych of Eastview High School; Adam Ali, Emmanuel Gersam, Ebenezer Girmachew, Sophie Gunyan, Bethelehem Kebede, Sarah Labarere, Sebastian Marchese, Brianna Metzger, Lily Nowlin, Naomi Teklemariam of Rosemount High School.