141 Arkansas high school seniors named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists – Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
A total of 141 Arkansas high school seniors are among more than 16,000 students to be named semifinalists this week in the 71st annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
These seniors will now compete for some 6,930 scholarships worth nearly $26 million that will be offered next spring. About 15,000, or roughly 94%, of the semifinalists are expected to advance to the finalist level. Those who do will be notified in February.
The National Merit Scholarship is awarded by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, a not-for-profit established in 1955. The organization operates without government assistance and is funded by its own corporation and by about 300 business organizations, higher education institutions and individual donors. Its mission is to promote scholastic excellence and recognize academically talented students who show potential for success in college and beyond.
More than 1.3 million juniors from about 20,000 high schools entered the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2024 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The 16,000 semifinalists account for less than 1% of high school seniors in the U.S. and include the highest-scoring entrants in each state.
The Arkansas semifinalists and their high schools are listed alphabetically by city.
ALMA
ALMA HIGH
Holsted, Blake
BATESVILLE
BATESVILLE HIGH
Ho, Mai Lan T.
BENTONVILLE
BENTONVILLE HIGH
Ala, Akshay
Devineni, Avinash
Engstrom, Cami E.
Gorshe, Renatte R.
Hatch, McKay W.
Lim, William S.
Narasimhan, Manvitha
Paharia, Riley W.
Pate, Gavin J.
Purdy, Kaitlyn M.
Roberts, Emilie E.
Rogers, Noah R.
Shakya, Arush
Shatilenko, Constantin V.
Trump, Cooper
Turk, Lawson C.
Vakkalagadda, Risheel
HAAS HALL ACADEMY
Coomer, Alan
Davalbhakta, Aaroosh
Moeller, Ezra
Shaik, Afreen
Smith, Audrey
Turnbaugh, Brendan
Vo, Preston
HOMESCHOOL / ONLINE SCHOOL
Golden, Hezekiah
THADEN SCHOOL
Galindo, Eduardo
BRYANT
BRYANT HIGH
Oliphant, Samantha
CABOT
CABOT HIGH
Merrick, Hudson T.
Patten, Aidan M.
Reedy, Nathanael T.
Smith, Shelby J.
CENTERTON
BENTONVILLE WEST HIGH
Lamp, Ethan
Ramu, Deerga
Reshmy, Sangamitra
Unnam, Veera
CONWAY
CONWAY HIGH
Chrysler, Caroline R.
Schlientz, William A.
FAYETTEVILLE
FAYETTEVILLE HIGH
Chance, Seth
Cholthitchanta, Arissa
Conley, Edward
Cooper, Maddox
Jiang, Patrick
Kalyankar, Sumedh
Kong, Anthony
Menendez, Olivia
Regnier, Adair
Thomas, Joseph
Zhang, Leonardo
HAAS HALL ACADEMY
Ahmed, Mishaal
Gosman, Elisabeth
Grandy, Calista
Gretzmier, Johnathon
Johnson, Tyler
Johnston, Griffin
Ma, Nathan
Newell, Eli
Nguyen, Kaden
Simmons, Andrew
Sin, Khant
Turner, Sydney
PRISM EDUCATION CENTER
McBride, Zion
FORT SMITH
NORTHSIDE HIGH
Goodson, Cody
SOUTHSIDE HIGH
Han, Justin S.
Henehan, Schuyler H.
Le, Hieu N.
GREENBRIER
GREENBRIER HIGH
Girdler, Garrett
HOT SPRINGS
ARKANSAS SCHOOL FOR MATHEMATICS, SCIENCES, AND THE ARTS
Goyal, Aarush
Henson, Tristan
Le, Anna
Van Dorple, Catherine
Wesley, Zachary
Yu, Kaiyan
HOMESCHOOL / ONLINE SCHOOL
Wright, Emma
JONESBORO
VALLEY VIEW HIGH
Kim, Uijin J.
LITTLE ROCK
CATHOLIC HIGH FOR BOYS
Bennett, Gage
Butler, Whitton
Simon, Noah
CENTRAL HIGH
Baldwin, Abraham
Bhattacharyya, Aakash
Gaddi, Aarush
Ghate, Gauri
Jayappa, Sohan
Miller, Thomas
Min, Moojun
Raghav, Sreedev
Sajovitz, Noah
Sridharan, Siddharth
Tang, Eric
Tariq, Naira
Thadisena, Ashira
EPISCOPAL COLLEGIATE SCHOOL
Coon, Lucy
LISA WEST HIGH
Torino, Czarlotte R.
MOUNT ST. MARY ACADEMY
Byers, Amelia G.
Carr, Alyssa L.
Dalton, Lindley M.
Vogelpohl, Carson T.
PARKVIEW ARTS AND SCIENCE MAGNET HIGH
Avery, Harper
PULASKI ACADEMY
Chevireddy, Akshara
Duke, Owen
Weng, Kayla
JOE T. ROBINSON HIGH
Hinton, Reese
MOUNTAIN HOME
MOUNTAIN HOME HIGH CAREER ACADEMY
Coleman, Jack
Kaspar, Caiden
NORTH LITTLE ROCK
CENTRAL ARKANSAS CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
Teigen, Corrina
LISA ACADEMY NORTH
Branch, Jayden
NORTH LITTLE ROCK HIGH
Donn, Kira L.
PEARCY
LAKE HAMILTON HIGH
White, Zoe
PRAIRIE GROVE
PRAIRIE GROVE HIGH
Moore, Andrew J.
ROGERS
HOMESCHOOL / ONLINE SCHOOL
Carr, Steven J.
PROVIDENCE CLASSICAL CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
Kight, Owen
Wooldridge, Briley
ROGERS HIGH
Hamburger, Caden M.
Nelson, Isabella G.
Vo, Jacob B.
Waddoups, Robert O.
Young, Brooklyn M.
ROGERS NEW TECHNOLOGY HIGH
Hereth, Gabriel A.
RUSSELLVILLE
RUSSELLVILLE HIGH
Emerson, Ian
Fuller, Keegan
Stump, William
Warnick, Ian
SCRANTON
SCRANTON HIGH
Harmon, Alex
SEARCY
HARDING ACADEMY
Mitchell, Elaina K.
HOMESCHOOL / ONLINE SCHOOL
Reese, Eliana
SEARCY HIGH
Lin, Gregory
Weng, John
SHERWOOD
SYLVAN HILLS HIGH
Griffin, Katie J.
Thomas, Addison L.
SILOAM SPRINGS
SILOAM SPRINGS HIGH
Armstrong, Evan
SPRINGDALE
HAR-BER HIGH
Bahn, Claire
Elliott, Casey
Graham, Rigley
Netzel, Caroline
SHILOH CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
Russell, Robert
SPRINGDALE SCHOOL OF INNOVATION
Leffingwell, Adaleigh
Linker, William
Metzner, Abigail
Norman, August
Shellhammer, Andrew
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Dmitry Martirosov is a reporter covering K-12 education for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He writes about the issues affecting students, teachers and families and has a particular interest in transparency, as well as the day-to-day political battles over education. Before joining the Democrat-Gazette, he covered government and politics in Charlottesville, Virginia, and was a political reporter based in Columbia, Missouri, where he covered the state legislature in Jefferson City. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri, where he studied journalism and political science.
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