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The Bellevue School District is proud to announce our 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program semifinalists! This year’s semifinalists include 76 students from Bellevue, Interlake, International, Newport and Sammamish high schools. Congratulations, BSD scholars! We look forward to seeing you move on to the next round of the competition!
The National Merit Scholarship Program is an annual academic competition among high school students for recognition and college scholarships that began in 1955. The program is conducted by National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC®), a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance. United States high school students enter the National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which serves as an initial screen of over 1.3 million entrants each year, and by meeting published program entry and participation requirements.
The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent 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.
In September 2025, more than 16,000 Semifinalists were named, and these academically talented high school seniors will have an opportunity to continue in the competition for 6,930 scholarships, worth nearly $26 million. National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists from the Bellevue School District include:
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.
National Merit Scholarship winners of 2026 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join more than 389,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.
Some names were omitted based on media permission status. If you or your student received this recognition and would like to be added to this list, please contact communityrelations@bsd405.org.
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We acknowledge that we are on the indigenous lands of the Coast Salish, including the Duwamish, Muckleshoot, and Snoqualmie peoples.
We thank these caretakers of this land who have lived and continue to live here since time immemorial. We reflect on the historic context that brings us to reside on this land and accept responsibility to interrupt erasure. We are committed to our ongoing partnership with the Snoqualmie Tribe as we listen to, learn from, and lead with their guidance.