Nikki Lansford  - Blue Valley School District

49 Blue Valley students named National Merit semifinalists

A total of 49 Blue Valley seniors were named National Merit semifinalists last week for the organization's 2023 program, the most semifinalists of any Kansas school district this year. Above, a high school class in session last school year. Photo courtesy Blue Valley School District.

The Blue Valley School District has something to celebrate thanks to dozens of high school students in the district who qualified as semifinalists for prestigious National Merit scholarships for 2023.

Driving the news: A total of 49 Blue Valley high school seniors were named National Merit semifinalists last week.

  • With that number, Blue Valley has the most semifinalists of any Kansas school district this year, according to district officials.
  • The district also came close again to reaching its all-time record of National Merit semifinalists, which it achieved last year with 58 students.

The details: Approximately 16,000 high school senior semifinalists that are selected from across the country have an opportunity to compete for a finalist spot.

  • Ultimately, some 7,500 National Merit scholarships worth about a total of $30 million will be offered to finalists next spring.
  • The number of scholarship winners named in each state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the nation’s graduating high school seniors.
Blue Valley students signing yearbooks at the end of the school year.
Photo courtesy Blue Valley School District.

The details: The finalists will be selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors and announced in spring 2023.

  • The seniors applying are assessed on their achievements, such as their academic records, level of difficulty of subjects studied and scores on the Preliminary SAT and/or National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
  • According to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, about 95% of semifinalists nationwide are expected to become finalists, and approximately half of those finalists will then win a scholarship, earning the title of “National Merit Scholar.”

Blue Valley’s 2023 National Merit semifinalists:

Blue Valley High

  • Kendall A. Bub
  • Audrey R. Che
  • Emily A. Clausen
  • Janna Goodman
  • Genevieve V. Jarrell
  • Benjamin D. Parrack
  • Nancy T. Pei
  • Aarush Tallapragada
  • Joaquin I. Toro
  • Christian E. Vaz
  • Eleanor J. Warren

Blue Valley North  

  • Nathan I. Bronson
  • Luke W. Chen
  • Thomas F. Gaffney
  • Eric D. Garretson
  • Leah Helfer
  • Prabhav Pagadala
  • Matthew K. Peng
  • Elizabeth R. Place
  • David B. Stutz
  • Johnathan Subramanian
  • Kayoko E. Thornton

Blue Valley Northwest

  • Ibaad A. Chaudray
  • Andrew S. Cho
  • Rohan A. Desai
  • Tanay V. Dunthuluri
  • Gavin C. Goldston
  • Evan C. Jiang
  • Katherine E. Kirby
  • Adam J. Koehler
  • Abigail C. Kratofil
  • Rick Z. Li
  • Sohail S. Mukadam
  • Bryce D. Stoddard
  • Walter C. Waxman
  • Henry O. William

Blue Valley Southwest 

  • Nicholas J. Hohman
  • David J. Mick
  • Parker B. Toman

Blue Valley West

  • Ruhi Chand
  • Abhilash Gotoor
  • David O. Han
  • Lisa Ji
  • Naveen Kannan
  • Chinmayee Magesh
  • Sarah E. Mollan
  • Arav Pant
  • Shishir K. Vargheese
  • Kevin Xu

Hi! I'm Nikki, and I cover the city of Overland Park.

I grew up in southern Overland Park and graduated from Olathe East before going on to earn a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. At Mizzou, I worked as a reporter and editor at the Columbia Missourian. Prior to joining the Post, I had also done work for the Northeast News, PolitiFact Missouri and Kaiser Health News.

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