For the second consecutive year, a record-high number of Wayzata High School students have been named Semifinalists in the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program.
High school juniors entered the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2021 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of 16,000 Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. About 15,000 of these semifinalists are expected to advance to the finalist level in February. National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from the group of finalists beginning in April.
Congratulations to the following 2023 Wayzata High School National Merit Semifinalists:
Isak Arnold Khoi Le
Nithya Atla Leon Luo
Sanjana Basava Neev Mangal
Soham Biswas Bhanu Prakash Narra
Elliott Brown* Ziyi Qian
Sunny Cai Samarth Ram
Michelle Cao Alexander Rhead
Anurag Challagundla Roland Sellman
Eric Chen Teresa Shavera
Matthew Chen Shabda Prateeti Varanasi*
Caden Cheng Daniel Vaynberg
Alice Cho Daniel Wang
Ethan Cordeiro Jason Wang
Vennela Dupati Joyce Wong
Ivy Garrity Nathan Wu*
Sidarth Gazula Ai Xing
Zachary Guo Steven Yang
Mahirul Haque Andrew Zhang
Tunger Hong Emma Zheng
Prahlad Kanapuram
*not included in group photo
WHS National Merit Semifinalists Recognize Teachers Who Made a Difference
It is a long-standing tradition at Wayzata High School that our National Merit Semifinalists identify a significant K-8 teacher and a significant 9-12 teacher who have played an important role in their learning. This year’s semifinalists selected the following individuals as their esteemed teacher nominees.
Grades K-8 Esteemed Teachers Grades 9-12 Esteemed Teachers
Stephanie Andrews Seth Finck
Darren Augustine Jodi Grack
Ruth Basant Mark Johnston
Sue Bradsher Shannon Kelly
Joan Campbell-Pyzdrowski Paul Kimbler
Anna Caspar Kathryn Kottke
Brian Deeney Don Krubsack
Ashley Drill Amanda Laden
Matt Eicheldinger Christopher Lindahl
Michael Gadient Elyssa McIntyre
Jean Gentile Erin O'Neill
Sarahh Gohman Jose Parra Staves
Joseph Hannon Ken Pashina
Jordan Herzog Jeff Prondzinski
Clarice Jorenby William Skerbitz
Cory Knudtson Rebecca Wyffels
Mandy Kraus Casey Zylla
Erica Nikstad
Aimee Paar-Olson
Michael Peterson
Nicole Ringate
Kathy Simson
Carolyn Sund
Alex Voigt
Marc Wegner
Tony Williams