Tampa Bay National Merit Finalists Named

Clearwater FL

02 July, 2020

12:56 PM

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TAMPA BAY, FL — Tampa Bay college-sponsored Merit Scholarship winners are a part of the distinguished group of about 7,600 high school seniors who will receive National Merit Scholarships for college undergraduate study worth more than $30 million. Earlier this spring, NMSC announced winners of corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards and National Merit $2,500 Scholarships. More than 1.5 million juniors in approximately 21,000 high schools entered the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2018 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test , which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Last fall, approximately 16,000 semifinalists were named on a state-representational basis in numbers proportional to each state's percentage of the national total of graduating high school seniors. Semifinalists were the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and represented less than 1 percent of the nation's seniors. To compete for Merit Scholarship awards, semifinalists first had to advance to the finalist level of the competition by fulfilling additional requirements. Each semifinalist was asked to submit a detailed scholarship application, which included writing an essay and providing information about extracurricular activities, awards and leadership positions. Semifinalists also had to have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirmed the qualifying test performance. From the semifinalist group, some 15,000 met requirements for finalist standing, and about half of the finalists will be Merit Scholarship winners in 2020. NMSC, a not-for-profit corporation that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 to conduct the National Merit Scholarship Program. The majority of National Merit Scholarships provided each year are made possible by the support of approximately 400 independent corporate and college sponsors. Tampa Bay winners include: Ryan J. Harding of Brandon for the University of Central Florida to major in computer scienceAmy P. Pham of Brandon for the University of South Florida to major in medicineCollin R. Talbot of Brandon to the University of Florida to major in bioengineeringSean M. Florek of Clearwater to the University of Florida to major in medicineEthan N. Nguyen of Clearwater to the University of Central Florida to major in mechanical engineeringNicholas C. Gray of Dade City to the University of Central Florida to major in computer scienceEmily M. Branham of Lakeland to Liberty University to major in academiaSteven Miltenberger of Land O' Lakes to the University of Florida to major in computer scienceJoshua R. Mott of Largo to the University of Florida to major in mathematicsBrodie S. Brown of Lithia to the University of Alabama to major in physicsJayden C. Capella of Lithia to Vanderbilt University to major in medicineEmily R. Flinter of Lutz to Emory University to major in medicineRebekah F. Hurwitz of Lutz to the University of Florida to major in actuarial scienceVivek Kondapavuluru of Lutz to the University of Florida to major in medicineRana Xen Scherer of Lutz to Central Florida University to major in electrical engineeringRiya T. Choksi of Odessa to the University of South Florida to major in medicineLeigh R. Ives of Odessa to the University of Florida to major in musicNoelle Esposito of Palm Harbor to the University of Florida to major in mechnical engineeringMateusz Plaza of Palm Harbor to the University of Florida to major in computer scienceRiley B. Skiles of Plant City to Liberty University to major in neurologyCharles B. Phillips of Redington Beach to Florida State University to major in international relationsHaidyn C. Sekeres of Seminole to the University of Florida to major in medicineAngitha Reji of Spring Hill to the University of Florida to major in economicsPaul G. Fernandez of St. Petersburg to the University of Florida to major in economicsAidan B. Higgs of St. Petersburg to the University of Florida to major in medical researchSophia H. Hirst of St. Petersburg to the University of Florida to major in pediatric psychologySebastian P. Newell of St. Petersburg to the University of Florida to major in mathematicsVasishta Akinapalli of Tampa to the University of Florida to major in nuclear engineeringRobert B. Anderson of Tampa to the University of Florida to major in computer scienceFariah Ansari of Tampa to the University of South Florida to major in biological engineeringChristopher J. Browy of Tampa to the University of Florida to major in economicsCassandra A. Colaco of Tampa to Northwestern University to major in medicineSavari Datta of Tampa to the University of Florida to major in aerospace engineeringLindsey M. Gabler of Tampa to the University of Georgia with an undecided majorAmiya Clare Gupta of Tampa to the University of Florida to major in educationCharles T. Hobby of Tampa to Southern Methodist University to major in engineeringRyan B. Hobson of Tampa to the University of Florida to major in computer scienceHamilton M. Jones of Tampa to the University of Florida to major in biomedical engineeringNoah R Kilpatrick of Tampa to the Univeersity of Alabama to major in economicsAlexandra C. Kirkner of Tampa to the University of Florida to major in biomedical engineeringLucy J. Morris of Tampa to Southern Methodist University to major in medical researchSania K. Munir of Tampa to the University of Florida to major in health careTien Minh Nguyen of Tampa to the University of Florida to major in lawReema D. Patel of Tampa to the University of Florida to major in psychologyRichard Andrew Sebek of Tampa to Florida State University to major in economicsNicole Su of Tampa to the University of South Florida to major in biomedicineGiovanni B. Taylor of Tampa to the University of Central Florida to major in video game designUma Vogeti of Tampa to the University of Florida to major in biomedical engineeringBethany A. Bradshaw of Trinity to the University of Central Florida to major in aerospace engineeringDustin G. Rendell of Trinity to the University of Florida to major in medicineJulia G. Bower of Valrico to the University of Central Florida to major in financeKathryn A. Reinhardt of Valrico to Liberty University to major in software engineeringShannon S. Chen of Wesley Chapel to the University of Florida to major in dentistryMindy L. Do of Wesley Chapel to the University of South Florida to major in health careAchyudham R. Kutuva of Wesley Chapel to the University of Florida to major in science researchStanley S. Moonjeli of Wesley Chapel to the University of Florida to major in robotics.