Around 37 high school students of South Asian origin, a majority of them Indian Americans, have made it to the semifinal in the Presidential Scholars Program for 2005. The Presidential Scholars Program told News India-Times that the winners will be announced in the first week of May. The names were not available at press time.

Approximately 500 semifinalists have been selected for the Department of Education program from a total of about 2,600 candidates.

Out of these semifinalists, up to 141 students would be named as Presidential Scholars, one of the nation’s highest honors for high school students established in 1964, by a commission appointed by President George W. Bush.

All scholars would be honored for their accomplishments during National Recognition Week, to be held in June in Washington, D.C.

During the Week, the Scholars would be the guests of the Commission and enjoy an expense paid trip to Washington, D.C., to meet with government officials, educators, authors, musicians, scientists and other accomplished people. Scholars would also have the opportunity to visit museums and monuments, and to attend recitals, receptions and ceremonies.

To commemorate their achievement, the scholars would be awarded the Presidential Scholars medallion at a ceremony sponsored by the White House.

All Presidential Scholars are asked to identify those educators who have most influenced them. The selected educators are also invited to attend the Week. There, they would be honored at a special reception to recognize and thank them for their efforts, and would be presented with the Teacher Recognition Award.

Students have the opportunity to become Presidential Scholars based on two criteria. The majority of the Scholars are selected on the basis of broad academic achievement. Approximately 20 additional students are selected on the basis of their academic and artistic scholarship in

the visual arts, the performing arts, or creative writing. The academic component of the program selects students who have scored exceptionally well on the College Board SAT or the ACT Assessment. Eligible students are U.S. citizens graduating or receiving a diploma between January and August of the current program year, who have taken the SAT or ACT Assessment on or before the preceding October.

Students meeting these requirements are automatically considered for participation. Initial inclusion in the pool of eligible candidates is determined by the information (e.g., citizenship or graduation year) provided by the student on his/her SAT or ACT test registration. The selection of approximately 2,600 academic candidates is made based on SAT and ACT scores. Test scores in each of the states/jurisdictions are reviewed, and the total SAT score is compared to the ACT Sum of Scores. Each student’s highest test score (in a single test administration) is identified; duplicates and/or lower scores are dropped. In each state, scores are ranked from high to low.

Approximately 20 females and 20 males are selected as candidates from each state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and from families of U.S. citizens living abroad.

Students are considered in their states of legal residence, unless they have lived abroad for two years or more. Candidacy materials are mailed to students for participation in the program. Application is by invitation only; therefore, students may not apply individually to the Program, nor may their schools nominate them.

For the arts component of the Program, students are initially selected based on their artistic ability. Students must register for the Arts Recognition and Talent Search (ARTS), a national program identifying and recognizing young people demonstrating excellence in the arts. Upon completion of the ARTS program, the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts will nominate approximately 50 students who meet the Presidential Scholars candidacy requirements. Candidacy materials are mailed to the selected students, and they are invited to apply to the program. To confirm their interest, academic and arts candidates complete and submit candidacy materials, including essays, self-assessments, secondary school reports and transcripts for review. All arts nominees submitting candidacy materials are automatically advanced to the semifinalist stage.

During the past 40 years, this unique federal program has honored over 5,000 Presidential Scholars.

(Compiled from a press release by A. Sharma)

California
Fabien M. Thayamballi, Mission San Jose High School, Fremont; Amit Arora, Northwood High School, Irvine; Vishay S. Nihalani, Moorpark High School, Moorpark; and Aman I Kumar, Crystal Springs Uplands School, Saratoga.
Colorado
Suguna P. Narayan, Thornton High School, Broomfield,
Delaware
Arun S. Hendi, Charter School of Wilmington, Newark.
Florida
Jayanth S. Sridhar, Ransom Everglades School, Coral Gables; and Reshma Ramachandran, Coral Reef Senior High School, Miami.
Georgia
Sarang A. Shah, Campbell High School, Acworth.
Louisiana
Neelam H. Shah, Bolton High School, Alexandria; and Uma J. Nagendra (Arts), Benjamin Franklin Senior High School, New Orleans.
Indiana
Arunan Skandarajah, Pike High School, Indianapolis.
Maine
Kendra K. Beckler, Portland High School, Portland.
Maryland
Vaibhav V. Vish, Landon School, Potomac.
Michigan
Arvind R. Nagarajan, Detroit country Day School, Novi.
Minnesota
Ananya Mukhopadhyay (Arts), Mayo High School, Rochester.
Missouri
Vellore S. Arthi, David H Hickman High School, Columbia.
Nebraska
Anish Mitra, Lincoln East High School, Lincoln.
New Jersey
Veena Venkatachalam, Governor Livingston Regional High School, Berkeley Heights; Rounak B. Rawal, John P Stevens High School, Edison and Dhruv Maheshwari, Wayne Valley Senior High School, Wayne.
Nevada
Sneha N. Parikh, Green Valley High School, Henderson.
New York
Vivek Viswanathan, Herricks High School, New Hyde Park and Sagar V. Mehta, The Wheatley School, Roslyn Heights.
Ohio
Anuraag A. Chigurupati, University School, Gates Mills.
Rhode Island
Rahul M. Sharodi, East Greenwich High School, E Greenwich.
Pennsylvania
Babur J. Khwaja, Franklin Regional Senior High School, Murrysville and Lekha R. Tummalapalli, Fox Chapel Area High School, Pittsburgh.
Tennessee
Kanya Balakrishna, Lausanne Collegiate School, and Parth D. Sheth, Memphis University School, both Germantown.
Texas
Aseem K. Mahajan, A&M consolidated High School, college Station and Tanmay A. Gokhale, Langham Creek High School, Houston.
Virginia
Sharonmoyee Goswami, Thos, Jefferson High School for Science & Technology Fairfax and Shaily Pandey, Maggie L Walker Governor's School, Richmond.
Washington
Prithvi R. Shankar, Roosevelt High School, Seattle
West Virginia
Emil N. Siriwardane, Morgantown High School, Morgantown.
Wisconsin
Suchita R. Shah, Holmen High School, Holmen.