Three students from Vancouver Public Schools have received top honors from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Jason Anderson, Columbia River High School, and Samir Sen, Skyview High School, were named 2015 National Merit Scholars. Jessica Ekeya, Columbia River High School, was named a 2015 National Achievement Scholar. Each of these students will receive a $2,500 scholarship underwritten by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
Sen and Anderson are among only 2,500 Merit Scholar designees chosen from a talent pool of more than 15,000 outstanding Finalists in the 2015 National Merit Scholarship Program. Ekeya is one of 700 recipients of the National Achievement Scholarship, which honors the most outstanding scholastically talented Black American youth.
Jason Anderson is a full-International Baccalaureate (IB) student at Columbia River High School. Anderson lettered on the Columbia River golf team, and has earned awards in violin for All-State two years and All-Northwest this year from the Washington Music Education Association. Anderson plans to study biology and physics in college.
Samir Sen is a Science, Math and Technology student at Skyview High School. A National Chess Master, Sen founded a chess club at the Boys and Girls Club. He also volunteers at PeaceHealth and Oregon Health & Science University, and founded the North American Chapter of Humanity Hospital to raise $2,700 for a hospital in India. Sen plans to further his education in the sciences and research.
Jessica Ekeya is a full-IB student at Columbia River. She is a member of National Honor Society, Knowledge Bowl, Spanish Club and Model United Nations. Ekeya lettered in tennis and played on the varsity soccer team. She plans to major in Spanish and biology in college and hopes to pursue a career in pediatrics.
From left: Jessica Ekeya, Samir Sen and Jason Anderson