17 MVHS seniors were named semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship competition on Wednesday, Sept. 10.
Funded by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, about 16,000 students are recognized as semifinalists each year based on data from the 2024 PSAT, which was administered last October to current seniors. Recognition of the students’ academic performance is based on their scores on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
More than 1.3 million juniors from 20,000 high schools nationwide entered the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program, according to the NMSC. The semifinalists represent less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors.
To advance as finalists, students must undergo an evaluation of their academic record, the difficulty level of courses taken, grades earned, scores from the qualifying test, contributions and leadership in school and community activities, an essay, and a recommendation from a high school official.
Finalists will compete for $2,500 scholarships funded by the NMSC and for additional scholarships offered by colleges and corporations. Scholarship winners will be announced in spring 2027.
The following MVHS students were named in a press release sent by MVLA on Wednesday:
- Ivanka Abrol
- Soveen A. Agarwal
- Sadie D. Bankhead
- Jason Y. Chien
- Rohan Gadde
- Ruihang Gu
- Katelyn Hu
- Jacob Jiang
- Sophia E. Lew
- Jane S. Liou
- Emily M. Markova
- Camryn W. Nguyen
- Ryan H. Panzer
- Eleanor Y. Shin
- Ivan K. Tse
- Kavya Wazhi
- Wilder A. White
