SOLON, Ohio — Fifty-three members of the Solon High School senior class have been recognized through the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program.
Superintendent Fred Bolden told the Solon Board of Education Monday (Oct. 10) that most school districts have only “a handful” of these National Merit Scholars.
“They’ll have five or 10 in a great year,” he said. “We are typically in double digits every single year, and this is one of our biggest years ever.”
This year, 23 Solon seniors are National Merit Scholar semifinalists and 27 are Commended Scholars.
In addition, two seniors — including one of the Commended Scholars — received the National African-American Recognition Award and two others earned the National Hispanic Recognition Award.
“We are thrilled for these deserving students to be recognized as National Merit Scholars,” Solon High School Principal Erin Short said in a news release.
“The consistency in the high numbers of SHS students recognized through the National Merit Scholar program reflects the academic excellence and dedication of students and staff throughout the Solon Schools. We are very proud of their achievements,” she said.
Bolden also offered “a huge congratulations to these kids and their families.”
“The fact that we have these fine young men and women who have been able to complete this is nothing short of remarkable,” he said. “It requires a lot of hard work and dedication to do.
“But I think it also is a recognition of the program that we have. We have a strong academic foundation in our district, but we also try to create well-rounded individuals while doing that.
“To be this successful requires a holistic approach to managing everything.”
The 23 semifinalists are Dev Ahuja, Morgan Blackford, Matt Charney, Wonwoo Choi, Harry Deng, Amy Duan, Aakarsh Garg, Angelene Getz, Eshan Haq, Brian Hong, Erik Li, Zimiao Meng, Alex Mester, Viresh Mittal, Laura Mo, Hannah Olszewski, Helen Otterman, Vanessa Polster, Manikantha Puram, Prahalad Rao, Vikram Sundaram, Yiqing Tang and Aria Wei.
These students earned scores on the PSAT taken in their junior year that were among the highest in the state and qualified them as National Merit Scholar semifinalists.
The semifinalists will continue in the competition to become National Merit Scholar finalists by fulfilling several additional requirements in the coming months.
First, they must attain an SAT score that confirms their achievement on the PSAT qualifying test. They must also demonstrate a record of outstanding academic performance throughout high school and be endorsed and recommended by their high school principal.
In addition, the students and school officials must complete a detailed scholarship application that includes a student essay and information about their participation and leadership in school and community-based activities.
“You think about students as they’re seniors and they’re qualifying for some of these awards,” board President Julie Glavin said. “But it was the first-grade teachers, the second-grade teachers, all the way through the district, everyone working together.
“And having the support of our community allows us to do the hard work that we do to be able to get these results, because it really takes everyone that’s involved. So it’s really a tribute to everyone in the district, and I know we’re all proud of those particular children and all the people that got them there.”
The 27 Commended Students are Sean Broderick, Genevieve Burland, Ateeb Butt, Meena Chandrasekharan, Ethan Feldman, Brianna Gordon, Kiera Hale, Anna Ingram, Joshua Kasimov, Caleb Kim, David Levine, Sarah Liao, Jakob Loche, Mahir Mazumder, Rishabh Mehta, Alexander Merkulov, Janaki Nair, Rohan Navaneetha Raj, Kwabena Owusu, Nishaan Patel, Aidan Pitzel, Mehak Sankhla, Phoebe Shi, Aparna Srikanth, Andrew Turk, Ashton Yu and Nicole Zhang.
Commended Student Kiera Hale and Abigael Isoe earned the National African-American Recognition Award.
Olivia Visani and Rebecca Vinseiro received the National Hispanic Recognition Award.
Unity Day and Tailgate event
Also on Monday, Bolden spoke to the board about two upcoming events that are related: Unity Day and a CommUNITY Tailgate event.
Unity Day, set for Oct. 19, is the signature event for National Bullying Prevention Month. The goal of Unity Day, Bolden said, is to promote kindness, acceptance and inclusion and to come together by taking a colorful and united stand against bullying by wearing orange — the symbolic color for the day, as it signifies safety.
Students and staff in preschool through grade 12 are urged to wear orange that day.
In conjunction with Unity Day, families and residents are invited to the first Comet CommUNITY Tailgate event from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday (Oct. 14) behind the home stands on the west side of the Solon High School stadium parking lot.
The Solon Comets’ football game against Euclid begins at 7 p.m., and fans are encouraged to wear their Comet blue and white or other Solon Comets spirit gear.
“This new event is a great opportunity for families to get together, meet new people and celebrate the amazing diversity of our school community,” Bolden said.
Activities are planned for students, and families can have dinner from the eclectic array of food trucks that will be on hand that night.
While at the event, families and community members are encouraged to take a photo in front of the new SC Proud to be a Comet banner on the pool pad at the west end of the high school.
“We look forward to seeing everyone at this event to celebrate our community and then at the Comets football game,” Bolden said.
“It is Senior Night, and there will be a senior band show. It should be a real exciting time.”
New varsity head coaches
In other action, the board approved supplemental contracts for two new head coaches at Solon High School.
Mike Thompson will be the Comets’ head varsity wrestling coach, at a salary of $8,745.
Killian Murray takes over as the school’s head boys lacrosse coach. His salary will be $5,938.
Both Thompson and Murray have served as assistant coaches in their respective sports at Solon High School, Bolden said. He added that Thompson has been with the Comets’ wrestling program “for decades.”
“He actually started the youth wrestling program that feeds into our program,” he said. “So we’re really excited to have him as our varsity wrestling coach.”
The board’s next meeting will be at 6 p.m. Oct. 24.
Read more from the Chagrin Solon Sun.
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