FCPS Boasts Eight National Merit $2,500 Winners

Eight students from Fayette County Public Schools have earned $2,500 apiece through the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program. They are among 30 recipients across Kentucky.

Henry Clay High School: 

• William Brown, dance
• Clinton Corkran, international relations 
• Layth Rahman, bioinformatics

Paul Laurence Dunbar High School: 

• Vibha Bhaskar, biology
• Shreya Chandrashekar, medicine
• Kiran Koul, public health
• Laura Tong, biomedical engineering
• Joseph Vulakh, mathematics

This is the second of four announcements for the Class of 2024. By mid-summer, nearly 7,000 outstanding high school seniors nationwide will have received about $26 million in awards.

As juniors, students entered the 2024 competition by taking the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which serves as an initial screening. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than 1 percent of seniors, include the highest-scoring entrants in each state. Typically, over 90 percent of semifinalists advance in February, and about half of those finalists ultimately receive scholarships based on their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies.

The winner announcements come in four waves from April through July, including awards for corporate-sponsored scholarships, $2,500 National Merit scholarships, and college-sponsored scholarships. The National Merit Scholarship Corp., businesses, and colleges underwrite the awards.

Source: National Merit Scholarship Corp.