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Updated: September 10, 2025 @ 8:21 am
Reporter
Eleven Northeast Tennessee high school students have been named semifinalists in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program
The Evanston, Illinois-based National Merit Scholarship Corporation pr NMSC Wednesday announced the 11 names of seniors among more than 16,000 semifinalists in the 71st annual National Merit Scholarships.
Science Hill High School has five finalists, Dobyns-Bennett High in Kingsport four, Tennessee High in Bristol one and one in a homeschooled or online program.
The 11 by location and school or program, according to a. News release from NMSP, are:
• Dominic L. Shipley of Tennessee High School in Bristol;
• Clara Hagemeier, Saxon Mattison, Zoe Norman, Sawyer Ward and Christi Zarate of Science Hill High in Johnson City;
• Eesha Kothari, Arrush Nagre, Aparajita Vashisth and Laila Venzon of Dobyns-Bennett High in Kingsport; and
• Daniel McKinney in the homeschool/online school category in Kingsport.
NMSC officials said these academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 6,930 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million that will be offered next spring.
To be considered for the award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition.
About 95% of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and approximately half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title, according to a news release from NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance. It was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by about 300 business organizations, higher education institutions and individual donors that share NMSC’s goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.
More than 1.3 million juniors in about 20,000 high schools entered the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2024 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants.
The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.
To become a finalist, the semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment and honors and awards received.
A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.
Of more than 16,000 semifinalists, more than 15,000 are expected to advance to the finalist level, and in February they will be notified of this designation.
All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from finalists on the basis of their skills, accomplishments and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin or religious preference.
Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2026.
1. Every finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit $2,500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state-representational basis.
2. About 830 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be provided by approximately 150 corporations and business organizations for finalists who meet their specified criteria, such as children of the grantor’s employees or residents of communities where sponsor plants or offices are located.
3. In addition, about 150 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 3,600 college-sponsored awards for finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.
The 2026 winners will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join approximately 389,000 others who have earned the Merit Scholar title since it began in 1955.
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