3/14/2023 -- Twenty-eight Parkway seniors have been named finalists in the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program. These students represent less than 1% of high school seniors in the United States. The Parkway students are:

Central High
Gaayathri Binoj
Emily Huang
Allison Loudenback
Nisha Murali
Sonali Paranjothi
Refah Reza

North High
Aman Pai

South High
Maanvi Aggarwal
Ria Chopra
Ashok Kothamasu
William Sorg
Lauren Turco
Karyss Vedder

West High
Owen Arneson
Nikita Bhaskar
Joseph Britt
Allison Byergo
Bennett Christofferson
Rohan Daggubati
Ethan DeLuca
Katherine Evans
Wilson Gao
Mitchell Harms
Jacob Rushing
Noah Schell
Shiv Sharma
Alan Song
Nathan Zhou

To become a finalist, students must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about their academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment and honors and awards received. A finalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.

In the fall, approximately 16,000 students nationwide were selected as semifinalists, and 95% go on to become finalists. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for 7,250 National Merit Scholarships, worth more than $28 million.