Merit Scholars Praised by Parkway School Board

National Merit Scholars from the Ballwin area were recognized at the Parkway School District's board meeting Wednesday night.

Fifty-three students were recognized as National Merit Scholars and awarded documents saying so.

District officials described the students as "truly amazing" and many other superlatives during the recognition event.

Students score in an expert range on SAT exams as juniors, in order to qualify for Merit scholarship status. Students typically take the scholastic apptitude test in preparation for college application.

The regular board of education meeting was packed with parents and some 53 students for the event, who then left promptly after the awards—some said to study, others said do college applications.

Parkway School District 2011 National Merit Scholars:

Parkway South High (12)

Semifinalists: Dushyant Bhatnagar, Stefanie Shahan, Connie Shen, Heather Wilson, Jeffrey Zhao

Commended: Mandi Brehm, Emily Cheng, Hannah Clift, Kyle Gunby, Anthony Miano, Daniel Myers, Lauren Votava

Parkway West High (11)

Semifinalists: Keerthi Bandi, Will Gant, Andrew Kuehnle, Kim Lister, Adam Manders, James Wang

Commended: Alexandra Bierman, Kristen Gabriel, Michael Kammeyer, Luke Schlueter, Ben Wheeler

Parkway Central High (20)

Semifinalists: Dylan Adams, Thomas Hack, Shawn He, David Huang, Katherine Ihnat, Meagan McKinstry, Joshua Mo, Lee Remi, Carl Wallach, Dennis Zhu

Commended: Keith Coulson, Joseph Esstman, Madeleine Gibson, Bradley Lai, Althea Perez, Mathew Rasmussen, Jacob Rosenstock, Carol Wallach, Diana Wang

National Achievement Scholarship Program: Ahmed Eltahir

Parkway North High (10)

Semifinalists: Manali Gokhale, Adrienne Hunt, Tim Tai

Commended: Alexander Chan, Sharon Han, Scott Hodnefield, Adam Lawrence, Ben Shanker, Taylor Voelker

National Achievement Scholarship Program: Paa Imbeah