National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists Announced

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced 32 Downingtown Area School District (DASD) students as semifinalists in the 72nd annual National Merit Scholarship Program on September 9. The program honors individual students who show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies.

Congratulations to the following DASD students for earning achievement as National Merit Scholarship semifinalists:

DOWNINGTOWN HIGH SCHOOL EAST

• Sana Barige

• Gautham Sai Reddy Chinna Narasappa Gari

• Saanvi P. Devabhakthuni

• Atharva Doke

• Advaith Elluru

• Tejas Karusala

• Rishika Kurma

• Aadi Kurukunda

• Ahaan Nigam

• Sophia L. Pan

• Supreeth Siddani

• Anoushka Soni

• Nihal P. Thakkar

• Nithya M. Vanacharla

DOWNINGTOWN HIGH SCHOOL WEST

• James L. Kerwin

• Saran Sukla Yerrapatruni

DOWNINGTOWN STEM ACADEMY

• Shauna Jain

• Diya Kondoor

• Vyom Krothapalli

• Hannah Luo

• Arav Mehta

• Harivighnesh Nagaraj

• Sejal Padhy

• Shreyan Potdar

• Neel Solanki

• Shreyaj Vadla

• Siri Vobilisetty

• Saisubbarayudu Vytla

• Ojas Wani

• Sukriti Yadav

• Tongye Yang

• Zoe Zhang

Students entered the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2025 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®) during their junior year, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. 

Semifinalists 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. From over 16,000 semifinalists, more than 15,000 are expected to advance to the finalist level. All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from that group.

To learn more about the National Merit Scholarship Program, visit the National Merit Scholarship Corporation website.