Hopkinton’s Esha Jana reads her Letters About Literature contest submission at the Massachusetts State House on May 20.

Hopkinton seventh grader Esha Jana took second place in the Massachusetts Center for the Book’s statewide writing initiative, Letters About Literature.

Jana was recognized for her letter to author Supriya Kelkar about the book “American as Paneer Pie.”

The student winners were honored at the Massachusetts State House in May, where they read their submissions aloud to the audience and received cash prizes.

Vijay wins Merit Scholarship

Recent Hopkinton High School graduate Abhishek Vijay was named winner of a college-sponsored National Merit Scholarship. Vishay, whose scholarship was sponsored by Northeastern University, indicated plans to study computer science.

Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among the finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program who will attend their institution. College-sponsored awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship.

Local collegians earn honors

Sasha Fomin graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in international relations from Tufts University. Also at Tufts, junior Matt Burdulis, sophomore Anjali Batra and freshmen Olivia Chen, Bableen Gill, Lulu Jerrett and Nicole Mousad were named to the dean’s list. …

Garret Morrissiey graduated from Fairfield University.

At Emerson College, junior Kara Diune (media arts production major) and Merin Rhodes (theatre) were named to the dean’s list. …

Bridget O’Connor (psychology major) and Charles Petruney (business administration with management concentration) were named to the dean’s list at Saint Anselm College. …

At Salve Regina University, Reese Interrante, Leah O’Rourke and Christian Pereira were named to the dean’s list. …

Hannah Garesche earned a spot on the dean’s list at Siena College. …

Esther Klinger was named to the dean’s list while studying public health and sociology at Muhlenberg College. …

Kelsey Breslin, a musical theatre major, earned dean’s list honors at the University of Tampa. …

Madison Hadley and Isabella Radaelli were named to the dean’s list at Roger Williams University, while Linnea Dean and Lauren Pantazes received their degrees from the Rhode Island school. …

Cole Salyards was named to the dean’s list at St. Lawrence University. …

At SUNY New Paltz, Sophia Matsoukas earned a spot on the dean’s list.

Editor’s note: Information for college honors is provided by the schools. Those interested in being included in this section should forward the official notification or request for the school to email it to editor@hopkintonindependent.com.