Twelve seniors at Columbus Academy have been recognized as Commended Students in the 63rd annual National Merit Scholarship Program for their exceptional academic promise. Along with their dozen classmates previously announced as 2018 National Merit Semifinalists, these students placed among the top 50,000 scorers of more than 1.6 million high-schoolers who took the 2016 PSAT.
Columbus Academy’s 2018 National Merit Commended Students
- Addis Boyd, son of Christopher & Charmian Todd Boyd of Columbus
Interests: playing basketball, photo editing, member of Jack & Jill of America, watching college football & pro basketball, starting a mentoring program at CA for African American males - Alicia Harmon, daughter of Rodney & Angela Harmon of Reynoldsburg and Candace Lee of Columbus
Interests: creative writing, self-education, 2D art, working out, studying history & government - Lexis Hughes, daughter of Leon & Nancy Hughes of Dublin
Interests: playing guitar, creating & appreciating art, competing in tennis, basketball, track & field and softball - Alyssa Kim, daughter of Hyung Kim & Sook Lee of Westerville
Interests: golf, photography, baking - Shreyah Mohanselvan, daughter of Mohanselvan Subramanian & Sumathi Mohanselvan of New Albany
Interests: dance, Student Council, working on the yearbook, reading, volunteering - Bilal Mohsin, son of Syed & Hena Mohsin of Dublin
Interests: golf, community service, video games, medicine - David Qu, son of Xiaodong Qu & Lin Wang of Bexley
Interests: volunteering at Columbus Metropolitan Library & Nationwide Children’s Hospital, soccer, photography - Abhi Ramaswamy, son of Chakravarthi & Bhuvaneswari Ramaswamy of Powell
Interests: chess, golf, jazz trumpet, government, social science research - Anders Seline, son of Peter & Tricia Seline of Delaware
Interests: rower for Westerville Crew, drummer in school jazz band, active in student-run Service Board, co-founder of school’s Questworks program with project that built electric skateboard - Liana Shiroma, daughter of Jon & Lisa Shiroma of Blacklick
Interests: field hockey, Science Olympiad, theater stage crew, scuba diving - Anna Shuff, daughter of Van & Susan Shuff of Westerville
Interests: Shakespeare, creative writing, astronomy - T.J. Whitman, son of Thomas & Terri Whitman of Upper Arlington
Interests: basketball, baseball, volunteering at Buddy Up Tennis
On average over the past decade, 30 percent of students in each graduating class at Columbus Academy earn recognition from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, which is often the most of any school in Ohio and among the top schools nationally.
NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 420 business organizations and higher education institutions that share NMSC’s goals of honoring the national scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.