National Merit Scholarship Program names 47 HISD seniors as semifinalists

The National Merit Scholarship Program has named 47 HISD seniors from seven schools as 2021 semifinalists.

The seniors have an opportunity to compete for approximately 7,600 scholarships worth more than $30 million that will be offered next spring. Nationwide there are approximately 16,000 semifinalists in the 66th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

To be considered for a National Merit Scholarship award, semifinalists must advance to the finalist level. To become a finalist, semifinalists and an official at their high school must submit a detailed scholarship application that includes the student’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. Semifinalists must also write an essay.

See the full list of students below.

Bellaire High School

  • James Ballard
  • Elise Bartlett
  • Hong-En Chen
  • Katherine Chen
  • Scott Cricks
  • Collin Crockett
  • Amelia Ding
  • Leah Guttentag
  • Anh Ho
  • Ava Jiang
  • Zoe Kass
  • Catherine Li
  • Maggie Lin
  • Richard Lin
  • Eric Liu
  • Milan Narayan
  • Christian Olguin
  • Kavi Shah
  • Alex Xu
  • Jason Yao
  • Albert Zhu

Carnegie Vanguard High School

  • Disha Bhattacharya
  • Perrin Calzada
  • Caitlin M. Dorn
  • Sidharth Draksharam
  • David M. Guan
  • Gowtham Kadiyala
  • Nikitha Kota
  • Tina Li
  • Jessica K. Lin
  • Hari K. Rajagopal
  • Srikar Siripuram
  • Tegh S. Thind
  • Jennifer N. Ton
  • Samuel S. Zhang

DeBakey High School For Health Professions

  • Pranav Chemudupaty
  • Charlise Giang
  • Megan E. MacLeay
  • Kevin Song

Heights High School

  • Roma D. Kerby

Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts

  • Matthew Fu
  • Ronen S. Wenderfer
  • Saranna Zhang

Lamar High School

  • Alexander M. Koong
  • Craig A. Meikleham

Westside High School

  • Ethan S. Nava Maldonado
  • Kelly Shih