Local school districts tally 47 National Merit Scholars

BY SEBASTIAN STUDIER PRESS INTERN

During the fall of each school year, roughly 1.5 million students across the country take the PSAT or NMSQT test, entering into the running to be recognized as a National Merit Scholar.

Of the 1.5 million students who take the test, 50,000 — or about 3% — of the students are recognized as National Merit Scholars. These students qualify as either a “commended” student or, for those scoring even higher (in the top 1%), qualify as a “semifinalist.” Of the semifinalists, 15,000 of 16,000 are then recognized as “finalists” who are eligible for National Merit Scholarships that will help them pay for their future education.

Students from Mahtomedi, White Bear Lake, Mounds View and Centennial school districts scored high on their exams and earned honors for this award.

Mahtomedi High School tallied 13 total National Merit Scholars with seven finalists and four students who won scholarships for college. The finalists were: Christian Armitage, Marney Goeser, Anusha Khandpur, Luke Krier, Brady Lawrence, Juliana Nyberg and Craig Tarnowski. Armitage, Khandpur, Nyberg, and Tarnowski received scholarships.

Commended students from Mahtomedi High School included: John Gibbens, Connor Hagen, Isaiah Horsager, Angus Macchesney, Sarah Reisdorf and Joseph Wald.

“We are extremely proud of our students, as this demonstrates a strong commitment to academics

The following students were named to the dean’s list or received academic honors at a college or university in spring 2023:

Augustana University: Mackenzie

Ternes of Vadnais Heights.

College of St. Scholastica: Makenna

Kroska and Kyle Schmidt of White Bear Lake; Elvis Fusina and Courtney Hook of Vadnais Heights; Brooke

Ascheman of White Bear Township; Ella Herlick and Kyle Oswald of Mahtomedi.

Dakota State University: Jacob Lind of White Bear Lake.

Iowa State University: Megan Eberle, Ellys Johnson, Nicholas Otto and Thomas Rohlinger, all of Mahtomedi; Mackinley Commander of White Bear Lake.

Marquette University: Madison Carroll of White Bear Lake.

Milwaukee School of Engineering:

Cordell Steiner of White Bear Lake.

Montana State University: Olivia

Schwintek of White Bear Lake.

North Dakota State College of Science:

Nicholas Distad of White Bear Lake.

North Dakota State University: Ashley

Fettinger, Mrisa Nelsen, Conner McElmury and Erika Townley, all of White Bear Lake.

Northern Michigan University:

Josephine Taylor of White Bear Lake.

South Dakota State University: Kayla

Anderson, Clara Cunningham and Andrea Hilpisch, all of White Bear Lake; Abigail Harper of Vadnais Heights.

St. Cloud State University: Hailey

Baker, Eric Barthel and Zac Chapman, all of White Bear Lake; Quinlan McCollow of Willernie.

University of Central Arkansas: Ian Wilsey of Mahtomedi.

University of Iowa: Hunter O’Donnell of Vadnais Heights; Kaia Lifto and Megan Van Ostrand, both of White Bear Lake.

University of Minnesota-Crookston: Isaac Hosch of Mahtomedi; Abigail Fettinger and Caleb Mitchell, both of White Bear Lake.

University of Minnesota-Duluth: William Arlandson, Stephanie Comfort, Sydney Gadbois, Bianca Gratke, Julia Kray, Owen Mack, Natalie Ostrand, Joseph Phelps, Owen Ricker, Sydney Ruiz and Samantha Saenger, all of Mahtomedi; Brianna Askin, Benjamin Christenson, Logan Hawkes, Margaux Iverson, Katherine

Kaufman, Andrew Laska, Patrick Levins, Kailey Markwalter, Blake Meister, Julie Olson, Noah Rosenberg, and personal success. All of them are great representatives of Mahtomedi High School,” said Principal Justin Hahn.

White Bear Lake High School is home to senior Sophie Scroggins, a finalist for this year who was selected to receive a $2,500 scholarship.

“Sophie achieved at a very high level academically, which is a major criteria in order to be selected as a National Merit Finalist,” said Don Bosch, principal at White Bear Lake South Campus. “But in addition to her academic successes, she also excelled in the arts and athletics. Sophie is the epitome of a well-rounded student.” Mounds View School District is home to a large number of National Merit Scholars, a whopping total of 31 Scholars, all of whom scored in the top roughly 3% of test-takers. Fourteen of them were semifinalists and 13 were finalists, scoring in line with the top 16,000 test-takers in the nation.

National Merit finalists from Mounds View High School included: Gillian Anderson, Gwendolyn Brandt, Anlei Chen, Bria Farmer, Taylor Isabel, Claire Li, Iris Ren, Aurora Wang, Henry Wang, Justin Wang, Colette Whalen, Emily Zhao, Steven Zhou and semifinalist Linden Lee.

Of these students, eight are graduating and have been offered National Merit Scholarships.

Chen, Isabel, Ren and Henry Wang have been offered the National Merit University of Minnesota Scholarship; Farmer has been offered the National Merit University of Oklahoma Scholarship; Huang and Zhou have both been selected for 3M scholarships; and Li has earned the $2,500 National Merit Scholarship.

Nathaniel Vaulx and Lily Wagner, all of White Bear Lake; Sydney Peterson, Julia Velky, Madeline Verkerke and Jason Lang, all of White Bear Township.

University of Wisconsin-Madison: Megan Beaulieu, John Diffley, Will Garry, Aaron Moriarity, Katherine Swanson, Anna Ardito, Jacob Arlandson, Olivia Decker and Anna Lindberg, all of Mahtomedi; Claire Odmark, Gianna McLeod, TJ Turinske and Tatiana Zech, all of White Bear Lake.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee: Maxwell Behnke of Mahtomedi.

University of Wisconsin-Superior: Kaitlyn Stender of White Bear Lake. Winona State University: Gabriel Bartlett, Hayden Darling, Caitlin Kuehborn and Jordan Nelson, all of Vadnais Heights; Hannah Dorr, Claudia Johnson, Diana Lee, Katherine Timmons, John Vojtech and Landon Witt, all of White Bear Lake; Magnolia Podgorak of Mahtomedi.

The following students graduated from a college or university in spring

2023:

Alexandria Technical and Community College: John Balfanz of White Bear Lake, Law Enforcement Associate of Applied Science.

Marquette University: Caitie McGauley of Mahtomedi, master’s, physician assistant studies, with honors.

Minnesota State University-Mankato: Sam Merchant of Dellwood, Bachelor of Science in Engineering, integrated engineering; Edwin Perry of Dellwood, master’s, sport and exercise psychology; Bailey Bernard of White Bear Lake, master’s, English; Crystal Haugen of White Bear Lake, Master of Social Work, cum laude; Emily Olson of White Bear Lake, Bachelor of Science, nursing, magna cum laude; Alicia Fowler of White Bear Township, Bachelor of Science, nursing, magna cum laude; Amy Grilz of White Bear Township, Bachelor of Science, RN Baccalaureate completion, summa cum laude; Samantha Larson of White Bear Township, Bachelor of Science, criminal justice.

University of Iowa: Emily Smith of Vadnais Heights, Master of Arts, teaching and learning; Kyndra Hansen of White Bear Lake, Bachelor of Arts, speech and hearing science.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Grace Carpenter of Mahtomedi, Bachelor of

Commended students from Mounds View High School and Irondale High School included: Ian Buerge, Henry Cahoon, Barbara Danku (Irondale), Puna Ekka (Irondale), Monica Gadela, Sophia Huang, Tara Martin, Mateo Nacusi, Lucia Nitti, Samuel Notch, Jack Ohmann, Shaurya Sehgal, Emma Sun, Lily Thai (Irondale), Arnou Thammarak (Irondale), Skylar Weirens and Leigha Wood.

Centennial School District produced two National Merit Scholars this school year, including finalist Michelle Li and commended student Evan L. Pouliot.

Centennial High School Principal Tom Breuning noted that clearly both Li and Pouliot are academically skilled, but that both students are also extremely involved in the school community. Li participated in Centennial’s music department, National Honor Society (NHS) and Centennial Students for Change.

“You name it, Michelle was in it,” Breuning said. Pouliot participated in cross-country and NHS. Both students are a part of the class that encountered COVID-19 during their freshman year and both have played a big part in the culture and climate that exists at Centennial High School, Breuning said.

Sebastian Studier is an intern at Press Publications. He can be reached by calling 651-242-2775 or emailing intern1@presspubs.com

Arts, College of Arts and Sciences.

University of Sioux Falls: Tavian Tumbleson of Mahtomedi, Master of Education.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee: Lydia Deutsch of White Bear Township, Bachelor of Science, nursing, with honors.

Winona State University: Muira Arndt of White Bear Township, Professional Science master’s degree, applied research and management; Katherine Timmons of White Bear Lake, Bachelor of Science, nursing, summa cum laude; Paige Yang of White Bear Lake, Bachelor of Science, data science.

Weekly Outlook

Frank Watson at WeathermanWatson.com.

Our hot temperatures have been around for awhile but we reeled off several days of 90’s last week, as the first week of summer kicked off. One thing that was missing was tropical dew points, dew points in the 70’s. The upper winds have cut off Gulf moisture which have kept dew points in the upper 50’s and low 60’s. Minnesota’s version of a “dry heat.” The upper winds did change as we headed into the weekend and some of us were blessed with RAIN!! Yay! Amounts varied wildly but I think most of us received at least a half inch. Others as much as two inches. Seasonablelike temperatures are in store for us this period. July 4 note: There will be a full moon so grab your camera and set up in a spot to snap some pictures of fireworks and the moon.

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