Thirty Indian-Americans are among this year’s Presidential Scholars, one of the nation’s most prestigious honors for high school students. The US Presidential Scholars Program, established by executive order in 1964, recognizes and honors some of the nation’s most distinguished graduating high school seniors.
Each year, up to 161 students are named Presidential Scholars. The selection process follows a quota system, with one male and one female student from each state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and US families living abroad. Additionally, 55 other scholars are chosen: 20 in the arts, 20 in career and technical education, and 15 selected at large. This award does not include a monetary stipend.
The Indian-Americans featured in this year’s list were assessed based on different categories including varsity athletics, artistic excellence, leadership, citizenship career and technical education, and contribution to the community.
One of the recipients, Aanya Shah from Michigan, is a disability advocate who has held the position of state president for the Health Occupations Students of America organization and served as a National Youth Council member for UNICEF USA. She will be attending Johns Hopkins University.
Ananya Uddanti from Little Rock Central High School also made it to the coveted list. “Having been federally recognized from an original pool of all US graduating seniors, I would like to thank my support system at Little Rock Central High School and my parents. I am incredibly grateful for this recognition and am looking forward to the continuation of my academic journey at Brown University!” Uddanti wrote in a post on LinkedIn.
Other winners include Manav Aggarwal from Huntsville, Alabama, Randolph School, Sruti Peddi, Fountain Hills, Arizona, BASIS Scottsdale Charter, Siddharth R. Nareddy, Westminster, Colorado, Peak to Peak Charter School, Amanrai S. Kahlon, Hockessin, Delaware and Keya Krishna from Washington.
Additionally, Sharanya Chatterjee from Orlando, Florida, Freedom High School, Vineeth Sendilraj from Suwanee, Georgia; Lambert High School, Pradyumn M. Bonu from Buffalo Grove, Illinois, Adlai E. Stevenson High School, Sai Peddainti from Naperville, Illinois, Waubonsie Valley High School and Ayaan Parikh from Wichita, Kansas.
Other Indian-American winners include Paranjay Sharma from Kansas, The Barstow School, Minaal A. Khwaja from Maryland, Wicomico High School Radhika Heda from Massachusetts, Lexington High School, Anish Jain from Michigan, Avondale Senior High School Aanya Shah from Michigan, Troy High School and Shubha Gautam from Missouri; Columbia, Rock Bridge Senior High School.
The rest of the Indian-American students are Santosh Manikandan, Deetya B. Nagri, Prayag J. Patel, Pranav Sitaraman, Dishita Agarwal, Prithvi Vijay Narayanan, Aneri Shethji, Raaga Kodali, Sriya Yalamanchili, Ashwin Joshi, Siddhartha Dylan Pant, Kosha Upadhyay and Amisha Sao.
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