The School District of Elmbrook is proud to announce that Brookfield Central Senior, Ananya Bhatt, has been named a U.S. Presidential Scholar for the state of Wisconsin! Bhatt is the sixth Elmbrook student to be named a Presidential Scholar since 2017!

Ananya reacted to the announcement by paying tribute to those who have supported her educational journey. "I am honored and humbled to receive this prestigious recognition from the U.S. Department of Education. I am grateful for the amazing support I receive from my family, and share this award with my teachers and classmates at Brookfield Central who have made my high school experience so meaningful and rewarding."

Out of 3.7 million graduating seniors and over 5,000 candidates who qualified for the 2023 awards, Bhatt was selected as one of three students honored from Wisconsin and one of 161 Presidential Scholars chosen in the United States. Determined by outstanding performance on the College Board SAT and ACT exams, through nominations made by Chief State School Officers, other partner recognition organizations or the National YoungArts Foundation’s nationwide YoungArts™competition, the 59th class of U.S. Presidential Scholars will join the ranks of over 8,000 of the nation’s top-performing students throughout the years.

Inclusion in the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program, now in its 59th year, is one of the highest honors bestowed upon graduating high school seniors. Each year, final selection of the nation’s 121 academic Presidential Scholars consists of one male and one female from each state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and from families of U.S. citizens living abroad, as well as 15 chosen at-large, 20 Scholars in the Arts and 20 Scholars in Career and Technical Education.

This year’s recipients will be recognized this summer by U.S. Department of Education. Recent Presidential Scholars from Elmbrook include:

• 2023 - Ananya Bhatt, Brookfield Central
• 2020 - Sanju Reddy Peddagorla, Brookfield East
• 2019 - Namitha Alexander, Brookfield East
• 2018 - Julian Rhee, Brookfield East; Sophia Sun, Brookfield Central
• 2017 - Colin Gray-Hoehn, Brookfield East

For more information on the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program, please click here.