Paarth Sharma, a senior at Portage Central High School, was chosen as a semifinalist in a prestigious national scholars program.
Sharma is one of only about 600 high school students from across the country chosen as semifinalists in the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program. He is one of only 14 semifinalists from Michigan and the only from the West Michigan area.
Sharma was chosen from more than 6,000 other graduating seniors who applied for the program, which began in 1964 as one of the nation's highest honors for high school students based on their academic and merit achievement. Only about 600 students advance as semifinalists and up to 161 are named as Presidential Scholars.
Sharma will learn in the coming months whether he will join the others in the top tier. Congratulations to Paarth for this amazing accomplishment!