Every year, over 1.5 million high school students take the PSAT. In addition to providing practice for the SAT, for juniors, the test also serves as a coveted opportunity to qualify for one of the nation’s most prestigious scholarships: the National Merit scholarship.
And this year, almost two dozen Redhawks have done just that.
Of Frisco ISD’s 146 semifinalists, 23 call The Nest home, more students than any other campus across the district (although Independence is a close second with 22 semifinalists).
For semifinalist, senior Sahana Sethuraman, the honor presents a much-appreciated avenue to a world of opportunities for college scholarships and financial support.
“Becoming a semifinalist is the first step in getting a National Merit Scholarship and opens you up to a lot of merit scholarships for college,” Sethuraman said. “I’m really grateful and glad that I became a semifinalist because it offers a lot of opportunities and ways to pay for college.”
For semifinalist, senior Mason Classe, on the other hand, the title also honors the shared drive and hard work of many semifinalists.
“It’s very exciting to have been named a semifinalist alongside so many other amazing candidates,” Classe said. “Coming from a very competitive district, I know how driven and accomplished my fellow semifinalists are, so it is…great to have been honored alongside them.”
For Sethuraman, that drive manifested in drawing on a variety of resources in preparation for the PSAT.
“I did the practice tests on Bluebook and watched some YouTube videos with tricks and tips for the PSAT,” Sethuraman said.
Now, the Redhawk semifinalists begin the work of applying for the scholarship, reaching out to counselors for letters of recommendation, writing personal statements, and gathering supplementary materials, like SAT or ACT scores.
But despite the task of completing yet another application, Sethuraman believes the honor – and potential scholarship opportunities – to be well worth it.
“It doesn’t really impact the college application process itself,” Sethuraman said. “But it does help with getting scholarships and relieves some of the stress.”
Here’s the full list (compiled from the Frisco ISD list) of the Redhawk awardees:
- Nitya Anam
- Kairav Banerjee
- Rohan Bansal
- Mason Classe
- Anthony Junan
- Juhi Kashyap
- Krish I. Kumar
- Sankeertana Malakapalli
- Laya Mallina
- Sriram Mupparapu
- Abhay Murthy
- Akshay Murthy
- Aum Pahuja
- Saanvi Patel
- Chinmay Patil
- Vikshar Rajesh
- Alp Sahin
- Sahana Sethuraman
- Aashi Shah
- Hemish Shah
- Advait Singh
- Mathias Wong
- Bryan Zheng
