Amolika Chanda and Kerry Vu, Murray High School seniors, have been named Finalists in the 2025 70th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. "We are so proud to see that our two seniors have now joined the over fifty alumni to earn this prestigious honor as National Merit finalist. They are model students and young people who have been a joy to watch grow during their time here," said Tony Jarvis, MHS principal.
Chanda and Vu join the group of more than 15,000 Finalists. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 6,870 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million that will be offered next spring.
Over 1.3 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants.
To become a Finalist, the Semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the Semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received.
Chanda and Vu are MHS ACT 30+ Club inductees, recognizing MHS students who scored 30 or above on the ACT. Currently, MHS has 102 students who are members of the ACT 30+ Club. Chanda and Vu are Leadership Team members of the Murray High School Band. Vu is a MHS Drum major and member of the MHS Band saxophone section. Chanda is the Baritone Section Leader of the MHS Band and was a part of the featured Quartet Ensemble in the 2024 MHS Tiger Marching Band Show.
National Merit Scholarship 2025 winners will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join nearly 382,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.
Since 1974, Murray High School has boasted 51 National Merit Finalists, 5 Semi-Finalists, and 14 National Merit Commended scholars.
Chanda is the daughter of Diptiman Chanda and Rupkatha Bardhan. Vu is the son of Binh Vu and Ngoc Bui.