Schools

He's Smarter than Your Average High Schooler

Rohan Acharya is among 16,000 students nationwide who achieved high scores on the preliminary SAT and National Merit Scholarship Qualifying test.

A Serra High senior from Redwood Shores is one of two students from the school who has been named a semifinalist in the National Merit Scholarship program, officials from the San Mateo high school announced Friday. 

Rohan Acharya was selected as a semifinalist in September when officials with the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced 16,000 students who had achieved high scores on the preliminary SAT and National Merit Scholarship Qualifying test. There are only 50,000 students nationwide who achieved such high scores. 

The finalists for the awards will be announced in February, when 8,300 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $34 million will be given away. 

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Serra High senior Danny Shea of San Bruno joined Acharya, who plans to study engineering in college, as a semifinalist for the scholarship competition.

Other Redwood City National Merit semifinalists include Donald Livingston and Stephanie Tearse from

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