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EDUCATION

Glendale Mountain Ridge senior named Presidential Scholar

Salil Naik caps successful high school career

Posted 5/12/22

A Glendale Mountain Ridge High School student was named among the 58th class of honorees as a U.S. Presidential Scholar.

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EDUCATION

Glendale Mountain Ridge senior named Presidential Scholar

Salil Naik caps successful high school career

Posted

A Glendale Mountain Ridge High School student was named among the 58th class of honorees as a U.S. Presidential Scholar.

Senior Salil Naik learned in a Thursday letter from U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona that he was one of 161 students selected from the across the country to receive the annual recognition.

“You are joining a group of leaders who, since the program’s creation in 1964, have helped move our country forward in nearly every field of endeavor,” Cardona wrote in his letter. “President Biden has said, ‘I have always believed that our children are the kite strings that hold our national ambitions aloft — when we invest in their education, we are investing in the future of our nation.’”

Naik was also a Flinn Scholar finalist this spring.

This past September, he was one of three Mountain Ridge students selected to participate in a paid internship experience with Optum. Locally-sponsored National Academy Foundation (NAF) Future Ready Labs, a collaboration between NAF, business partners, and academy and district representatives, offer students an internship experience with an innovative and comprehensive structure.

As a sophomore, in 2020, Naik won the Congressional App Challenge for middle and high school students in Arizona’s 8th District. He won for hour.ly, an app to help students create a specific schedule to stay on top of school work. His app uses a machine learning algorithm to help maximize studying time.

As a junior, Naik represented Mountain Ridge and Deer Valley Unified School District by winning 1 DECA State Award and 3 FBLA State Awards. He received a first place honor in the Automotive Services Management Event at the Arizona State DECA Conference

In 2021, Mountain Ridge High School senior Suhani Patel also was named a U.S. Presidential Scholar.