Shoeleather Journalism in the Digital Age

Shoeleather Journalism
in the Digital Age

20 SUSD seniors named 2024 National Merit Scholarship semifinalists

SUSD students in running for nation’s most prestigious scholarship

Staff Reports | Digital Free Press

A total of 20 Scottsdale Unified School District seniors are among the nearly 400 Arizona students named semifinalists in the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program.

National Merit Scholarships are among the nation’s oldest and most prestigious, Scottsdale Schools officials report.

Each year, the program recognizes top students in the nation’s high school graduating class for their academic achievements, leadership in their school communities and potential for success in rigorous, post-secondary studies.

Of the more than 1.3 million students who took the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test last fall as juniors, more than 16,000 semifinalists have been selected to continue in the competition, including the following seniors from these SUSD high schools:

Arcadia High School ‒ Lauren Matz

  • Chaparral High School ‒ Douglas Driggs, Chloe Greetis, Tyler Higgins, Joseph Kahn, Tate Leventhal, Sania Patel, Darshan Shankar, Morgan Tefft, ElviaUzdonas
  • Desert Mountain High School ‒ Adelina Grotenhuis, Victoria Leung, David Ortloff, Leo Weber
  • Saguaro High School ‒ Mitchell Fesmire, Alyssa Perrine, Amutha Rajasundaram, Nikhil Sethi, Alex Stephenson, Jake Weiss

The 20 SUSD students and their fellow semifinalists nationwide represent less than one percent of the Class of 2024 and include each state’s highest-scoring entrants in the 69-year-old scholarship competition.

“We are so proud of our students and honored to have been able to provide the formal part of their educational journey,” said SUSD’s Superintendent Dr. Scott Menzel. “We know that many great things are ahead for these outstanding seniors.”

Semifinalists now move on to the finalist stage and have the next several weeks to complete a detailed scholarship application that includes their high school academic record and descriptions of their participation in school and community activities, employment, and honors and awards they have received.

Finalists for $28 million worth of college scholarships will be determined in February 2024; National Merit Scholarship winners will be named in monthly announcements from April to July, 2024.

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