Six Westerville North students are receiving scholarships from the College Board National Recognition Program. This program is a tangible way to recognize the academic goals and achievements of African American, black, Hispanic, and many other students to showcase their academic merits. @mywcsd announced the winners and took their pictures the week of September 16.
Adam Kauh is North’s semifinalist in the 69th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Westerville school seniors had the opportunity to move on in the competition for the National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million that will be offered in the spring.
The students whom received the College Board National Recognition Program scholarship were William Baumann (2025), Timnit Beyene (2025), Sienna Kerr-Beyor (2025), Emerson Koh (2025), Luayyah Suleiman (2025), Herson Trujillo-Alvarez (2025), and Nahum Woldesemait (2025).
Nahum Woldesemait (2025) said, “It felt really cool to be a part of the College Board National Recognition Program and it will look good on my college application.”
Three out of the six students were confused as to why they were being interviewed. They seemed lost on what was being asked and talked about as far as the scholarship. Odyssey staff members explained the significance of the reward to the recipients.
Half of the interviewed students are unaware and lack an understanding of the College Board National Recognition Program. According to North counselors It was brought up multiple times to the students. The program was recognized by the school district, however, Westerville North’s students still seem to lack understanding and clarity of the College Board National Recognition Program. More Interviews were conducted with winners of the scholarship and those interviewed explained why and how they accomplished this academic feat.
William Baumann (2025) knew he received the scholarship, but expressed his belief that it received minimal acknowledgement; he felt he didn’t get the recognition he deserved for the award. “Very surprised I received the scholarship and won. I didn’t think I deserved it because I wasn’t sure if my PSAT scores were high enough to earn it,” Baumann said.
Students needed to earn a 3+ on 2 or more distinct AP exams in the 9th and/or 10th grade, Take the Fall 2023 PSAT/NMSQT (10th or 11th) or Spring PSAT 10 (10th) and score in the top 10% of test takers from their award program in their state, and earn a cumulative GPA of B+ or higher (at least 3.3 or 87-89%) by the time of submission.
The students stated they believed the award would help them in the long run in college and would look good on their applications; Luayyah Suleiman (2025) said she “was very honored” to have received the scholarship being an African American student.
The awarded students were asked to explain the challenges they faced when working towards the scholarship and how they prepared themselves for it. Many of the students had expressed having the same mindset while working to meet the requirements for the program, Suleiman(2025) “taking harder classes and trying to maintain a high and good gpa throughout 2023-2024 school year”.
According to counselor Amy Brake, the six students who were awarded the scholarship, as well as their parents, received emails from the College Board and Brake herself. Brake also said, “They got notified for the pictures and even notifications from the College Board about everything. They all knew about the scholarship, but it was up to them to show up and participate.”
