CLEVELAND — The National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced the names of more than 16,000 U.S. high school seniors who are semifinalists for the 71st annual National Merit Scholarship Program in 2026.
About 6,390 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $25 million will be awarded next spring to students who advance from semifinalist to the Finalist level, according to a news release from NMSC. Over 15,000 of the more than 16,000 semifinalists are expected to advance to the Finalist level. Among the Finalists, nearly half will be awarded a National Merit Scholarship and earn the title of Merit Scholar.
What is the National Merit Scholarship Corporation?
Established in 1955, NMSC is a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance to conduct the National Merit Scholarship Program. The program partners with about 300 higher education institutions, business organizations, and individual donors to provide scholarships for high school students across the U.S.
How many U.S. high school students entered the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program?
More than 1.3 million high school students in about 20,000 high schools entered the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program. Students take the 2024 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test as juniors to serve as an initial screen of program entrants.
The pool of 16,000 semifinalists includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state and represents less than 1% of high school seniors in the U.S. The number of semifinalists in each state is proportional to the state’s percentage of graduating seniors.
How do NMSP semifinalists advance to the Finalist level?
To become a Finalist, semifinalist entrants must submit a scholarship application and essay detailing the entrant’s academic record, honors and awards received, participation in school and community activities, employment, and demonstrated leadership abilities. Entrants’ applications must be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and they must provide either an SAT or ACT score that confirms the student’s performance on the NMSC qualifying test.
Semifinalists who advance to the Finalist level will be notified in February 2026. After that, all National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from the group of more than 15,000 expected finalists. Scholarships are awarded on the basis of each student’s skills, accomplishments and potential for success in college studies, and without regard to race, ethnic origin, gender or religion, according to NMSC.
What types of NMSP scholarships are awarded?
Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered beginning in spring 2026.
There will be 2,500 National Merit $2,500 scholarships awarded on a state-representational basis.
Another 830 Merit Scholarship awards will be sponsored and provided by about 150 corporations and businesses. These are for finalists who meet specified criteria, including children of the corporation’s employees or residents of the community where the offices are located.
In addition, another 3,600 Merit Scholarship awards will be financed by about 150 colleges and universities. These are for Finalists who will attend the sponsoring school.
When will scholarship winners be announced?
Winners of the 2026 National Merit Scholarship awards will be announced in four news releases beginning in April and concluding in July, according to NMSC.
See below for all Ohio high school seniors who are semifinalists for the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program.
ANNA
ANNA H.S.
Gehret, Benjamin A.
AURORA
AURORA H.S.
Jin, Alexander
Mueller, Andrew A.
AVON
AVON H.S.
Balthaser, Alexandria M.
Le, NhaTien H.
AVON LAKE
AVON LAKE H.S.
Cline, Andrew
BEACHWOOD
BEACHWOOD H.S.
Dana, Dotan
Doughty, Charlotte
Krishnan, Karina
Kuenzler, Leo
Liu, Jiahe
Murthy, Shamith
Sharakou, Aliaksei
Tonyushkin, Anna
Wang, Junbo
Wang, Leo
Zheng, Tony
BEAVERCREEK
BEAVERCREEK H.S.
Agarwal, Pratisth
Duvall, Drew D.
Hunt, Ryan D.
Khobaib, Raihan S.
Russell, Ryan L.
Stubbs, Julia M.
BELLBROOK
BELLBROOK H.S.
Nair, Heera
Pryor, Katherine
BEXLEY
BEXLEY H.S.
Goldman, Reece
Klingelhofer, Wilson
McCutcheon, Harrison
Ramsden, George
Smith, Radley
BROADVIEW HEIGHTS
BRECKSVILLE-BROADVIEW HEIGHTS H.S.
Manley, Madelyn
Martin, Haylie
Mohan, Nakshatra
Sustersic, Koen
BROOKVILLE
BROOKVILLE H.S.
Wackerman, Daelon
BRUNSWICK
BRUNSWICK H. S.
Schuerger, Justin
Shandor, Alison
Wilson, Blake
CARROLL
BLOOM-CARROLL H.S.
Sprague, Hyatt
CEDARVILLE
CEDARVILLE H.S.
Lopez-Ramirez, Bertha S.
CENTERVILLE
CENTERVILLE H.S.
Claflin, Avery
Kurup, Siddharth
Sayeed, Sunehra
Vohra, Arjun
Yu, Brandon
SPRING VALLEY ACADEMY
Hoover, Ava
CHAGRIN FALLS
CHAGRIN FALLS H.S.
Beatty, Ella
Cain, Marie E.
Quintin, Westley R.
KENSTON H.S.
Larkin, Jackson R.
CINCINNATI
MC NICHOLAS H.S.
Russo, Addison M.
Wolfer, Annemarie C.
ANDERSON H.S.
Cox, Charles
Fatima, Hifza
Patterson, Luke
CINCINNATI COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL
Starodub, Jason
CINCINNATI HILLS CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
Stuk, Gabriel
COLERAIN H.S.
Rahtz, William
DEER PARK H.S.
Stockburger, Audrey
INDIAN HILL H.S.
Coffman, Noah L.
Hu, Andrew G.
Tindale, Sophie A.
MADEIRA H.S.
Cissell, Evan J.
Donovan, Owen K.
Wetzel, Benjamin M.
MARIEMONT H.S.
Ching, Eli
Harden, Tyler
Wickham, Davis
ARCHBISHOP MOELLER H.S.
Allen, Jake
Borgemenke, Kyle
Lay, Callen
NORTHWEST H.S.
Gilliand, Michael
OAK HILLS H.S.
Smyth, Ryland C.
SEVEN HILLS SCHOOL
Avera, Ethan
Burroughs, Jasper
Choi, Mikael
Imrie, Tyler
Jordan, Madeline
Kulkarni, Rohan
Rodriguez, Victoria
Wang, Isabella
ST. URSULA ACADEMY
Critzer, Caroline
Moschandreas, Lucia
Roman, Camille
ST. XAVIER H.S.
Arter, Lucas
Breese, Jack
Shumrick, Liam
Zimmerman, Kyle
THE SUMMIT COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL
Fox, Callie
Fraley, Aaron
Hollenbeck, Blake
SYCAMORE H.S.
Algers, Jonathan
Andolina, Ava
Hoeltje, Lukas
Li, Julia
Mao, Andrew
Mazer, Mitchell
Parikh, Tej
Prakash, Suhani
Shillington, Ryker
Singla, Sahana
Thakur, Yohaan
VanderBrink, Paige
Wang, Hannah
Wolper, Micah
Xie, Matt
TURPIN H.S.
Moscoso Boedo, Matias
URSULINE ACADEMY
Browne, Aleah R.
Chang, Chloe E.
Crosby, Leah M.
Uhlman, Alyssa A.
Wagner, Mallory L.
WALNUT HILLS H.S.
Chiong, Isabelle P.
Crabtree, Lucas G.
Hu, Sarah C.
Laurenson, Ella D.
Ly, Honora H.
Maadaadi, Saanvi R.
Polger, John A.
Ponna, Akhilesh D.
Riddle, Jackson N.
Sundar, Adharsh N.
WYOMING H.S.
Evans, Tyler
Janavicius, Carmella
Kramer, Cora
Mbui, Wambui
Pearman, Gram
Wise, Lorelei
CLEVELAND
CLEVELAND SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND MEDICINE
Shaik, Tasneema
MASTERY SCHOOL OF HAWKEN
Herlitz, Klara M.
Huss, Imre
Savett, Gavin B.
ST. IGNATIUS H.S.
Bethi, Anshul R.
Bohnak, Michael C.
Brennan, Andrew J.
Brewer, Samuel D.
Gordon, Jordan G.
Kerns, Thomas
Narendrakumar, Adharsh
Rolda, Jacob
Shahed, Omar
ST. JOSEPH ACADEMY
Campbell, Abigail
Fredrick, Megan
Sandy, Katherine
CLEVELAND HEIGHTS
CLEVELAND HEIGHTS H.S.
Lubbers, Eleanor
Mallamad, Gabriel
McFarland, Lev
COLUMBIANA
COLUMBIANA H.S.
Clancy, Brayden T.
COLUMBUS
COLUMBUS ALTERNATIVE H.S.
McCullough, Marcus D.
COLUMBUS SCHOOL FOR GIRLS
Leff, Kendall
GRANDVIEW HEIGHTS H.S.
Colahan, Dean
HOMESCHOOL / ONLINE SCHOOL
Bhutani, Aanya
ST. CHARLES PREPARATORY SCHOOL
Brunton, James E.
Dryfuse, Isaac
Fickell, Thomas
Grant, Noah
Wu, Alex
BISHOP WATTERSON H.S.
Bhowmick, Nichole
Graff, Caitriona
Keller, Cecilia
McGowan, Gretchen
THE WELLINGTON SCHOOL
Shen, Annie
Shen, Claire
Xiu, Isaac
WORTHINGTON KILBOURNE H.S.
Battle, John A.
Kim, Isaiah A.
COPLEY
COPLEY H.S.
DeJong, Daniel
Liu, Edison
Woodmansee, Charlotte
CUYAHOGA FALLS
CUYAHOGA VALLEY CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
Cook, Nathan
Lee, Owen
Muklewicz, Anna
DAYTON
CARROLL H.S.
Rodriguez, Olivia
HOMESCHOOL / ONLINE SCHOOL
McGrogan, Keira
THE MIAMI VALLEY SCHOOL
Grunenwald, Andrew J.
Roy, Awnik
DELAWARE
RUTHERFORD B. HAYES H.S.
Dilbeck, Charles
OLENTANGY BERLIN H.S.
Burton Boone, Philip A.
Davies, Aidan P.
Gritter, Eliana S.
Liu, Ryan
Upadrasta, Akhil
DRESDEN
TRI-VALLEY H.S.
Beebe, Benjamin
DUBLIN
DUBLIN COFFMAN H.S.
Belo, Miranda K.
Busken, Lucy J.
Chen, Anna Y.
Eryilmaz, Derin O.
Gupta, Sanskriti
Herbert, D’Andre K.
Madiraju, Meghana A.
Zhou, Sasha L.
DUBLIN JEROME H.S.
Agolla, Anshula
Boggula, Thanvi R.
Das, Ritav R.
Davitt, Thomas E.
Deivanaathan, Raghava
Girish, Akash
Gupta, Punyah R.
Kong, Yiming R.
Maddula, Aarush S.
Mishra, Sharanya
Ojah, Rhea
Parappuzha, Albert J.
Park, Justin M.
Pyla, Dhruthi
Shim, Esol W.
Toth, Lauren E.
Turk, Jack A.
Tyler, Graham R.
Wang, Brandon L.
Wang, Henry Z.
SCIOTO H. S.
Davis, William E.
Sturgeon, Sophia L.
Varadarajan, Vijayragav S.
FAIRBORN
HOMESCHOOL / ONLINE SCHOOL
Buschelman, William
GAHANNA
COLUMBUS ACADEMY
Aikins, Adam
Amato, Jackson
Chaky, Dane
Lee, Hyunyoung
Proctor, Jonathan
Reddy, Dillan
Tang, Ella
Varia, Aashi
Zhang, Angela
LINCOLN H.S.
Ball, Luke S.
Ohl, Madelyn B.
GATES MILLS
GILMOUR ACADEMY
Dai, Youran E.
Hunter, Helen D.
Lindley, Nathan J.
HAWKEN SCHOOL
Bullock, Josephine L.
Chang, Keira J.
Das Sarma, Indrani
Leizman, Matthew B.
McAndrew, Elizabeth R.
Morley, Lila O.
Rotberg, Jeremy J.
Sahni, Sawar
Shang, Yining
Zheng, Toby S.
GIRARD
GIRARD H.S.
Trevelline, Dylan T.
GOSHEN
GOSHEN H.S.
Shures, Carson
GRANVILLE
GRANVILLE H.S.
Hann, Jack E.
Kirby, John V.
Mitton-Fry, Norah G.
Songrug, Purin R.
White, Owen L.
HAMILTON
STEPHEN T. BADIN H.S.
Lees, Matthew
HAMILTON H.S.
Wagonfield, Madeline M.
ROSS H.S.
Moeller, Harrison M.
Pater, Gillian
Sommers, Nathan
HILLIARD
HILLIARD BRADLEY H.S.
Patel, Yash D.
Sasaki, Kaichi J.
HILLIARD DARBY H.S.
Narisetti, Rohan A.
Wallen, Brady A.
HUDSON
HUDSON H.S.
Cheng, Elena H.
WESTERN RESERVE ACADEMY
Baek, Sihyang
Casey, Thomas M.
Lin, Jinxi
Liu, Yanxi
Liu, Yukun
Qin, Ruihan
Yu, Peiyang
HUNTING VALLEY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL
Allen, William
Broihier, Ian
Chen, Ethan
D’Cruz, John
Malbasa, Andrew
Malbasa, Thomas
Patel, Vishaan
Sharma, Anshul
Wazni, Adonis
Zhu, Michael
IRONTON
ST. JOSEPH CENTRAL H.S.
Gnau, Alex
JACKSON
JACKSON H.S.
Lefever, Ryan
KETTERING
ARCHBISHOP ALTER H.S.
Montoya, Fernando
DAYTON REGIONAL STEM SCHOOL
Mapley, Matthew
KETTERING FAIRMONT H.S.
Bescoe, Sylas
Meade, Melina
Richter, Benjamin
KINGS MILLS
KINGS H.S.
Aston, Bennett
KIRTLAND
KIRTLAND H.S.
Whittaker, Charles
LA GRANGE
KEYSTONE H.S.
Ni, Vincent
LAKEWOOD
LAKEWOOD H.S.
Barcelona, Coralie O.
Carnovale, Zachary A.
Matera, Alessio F.
Wentzel, Adele B.
Whiteamire, Cecilia A.
ST. EDWARD H.S.
Riordan, Carter
LEWIS CENTER
OLENTANGY H.S.
Bae, Danielle B.
Balamurugan, Bhavana
Pochiraju, Satvik T.
Wylie, Allison E.
OLENTANGY ORANGE H.S.
Beal, Eden S.
Bhimireddy, Nikhil
Godha, Ojas J.
Majmudar, Savya K.
Paul Nesaraja, Harshith
Sivakumar, Siddharth
Tang, Aiden N.
Whitehead, Benjamin R.
Zhao, Devin
LIBERTY TOWNSHIP
LAKOTA EAST H.S.
Baumgarte, Isaac
McClain, Aaron
Meyer, Reilly
Nagel, Logan
Steinbrink, Tucker
LIMA
SHAWNEE H.S.
Langhals, Kendra R.
Owen, William S.
LOVELAND
LOVELAND H.S.
Kissick, Kalea
Merz, Paxton J.
MASON
MASON H.S.
Agarwal, Krishi
Akbar, Imran
Bodkhe, Kris
Devassy, Mikhail
Duggal, Adhya
Feng, Marley
Gotike, Anamitra
Jha, Sanvi
Jung, Lex
Li, Annie
Mohan, Varsha
Oyekunle, Gabriel
Shang, Ian
Shyam Sundar, Desika
Srikanth, Sahana
Tu, Ethan
Vulpala, Vishista
Wen, Riley
Yan, Kyle
Yathavakilla, Keyur S.
MASSILLON
JACKSON H.S.
Charlick, Brenna
Parks, Warner
Rawal, Manav
Walter, Joshua
MAYFIELD VILLAGE
MAYFIELD H.S.
Punyam, Krish P.
Punyam, Purva P.
Vigliotti, Vincent G.
MEDINA
HIGHLAND H.S.
Butcher, Joshua D.
Gryskiewicz, Braden A.
Mast, Lincoln A.
Shaw, Wesley N.
MEDINA H.S.
Browne, Evan
Prifti, Alexa
MENTOR
MENTOR H.S.
Faruki, Ayesha
Payne, Nicholas A.
MOUNT VERNON
MOUNT VERNON H.S.
Glandon, Sala
Henricksen, Benjamin C.
Rush, Lucy
NEW ALBANY
NEW ALBANY H.S.
Amin, Ornob
Devulapally, Yashas
Goodman, Jackson
Jacoby, Erik
Sakthivelan, Diya
NORTH CANTON
HOOVER H.S.
Seacrist, Troy J.
NORTH OLMSTED
NORTH OLMSTED H.S.
Boyers, Alyce M.
NORTH RIDGEVILLE
NORTH RIDGEVILLE H.S.
Stanulet, Ethan
NORTH ROYALTON
NORTH ROYALTON H.S.
Armin, Albert L.
De Salvo, Dominic V.
OAKWOOD
OAKWOOD H. S.
Drummond, Matthew T.
Ha, Ethan K.
Heckman, Neil E.
Lindsey, Cameron P.
Robb, Riley J.
Sayer, Benjamin A.
Weaver, Anna M.
Williams, Emmanuel J.
Zheng, Han
OBERLIN
FIRELANDS H.S.
Ludwig, Nathan
OBERLIN H.S.
Petzak, Grace
OLMSTED TOWNSHIP
OLMSTED FALLS H.S.
Pemberton, Evie K.
OTTAWA HILLS
OTTAWA HILLS H.S.
Smith, Quinton
OXFORD
TALAWANDA H.S.
Hodgson, Nolan
PARMA HEIGHTS
HOLY NAME H.S.
Beeson, Benjamin M.
PEMBERVILLE
EASTWOOD H.S.
Howard, Henry
PEPPER PIKE
ORANGE H.S.
Bhatt, Ishan
Comella, Matthew
Jang, Caroline
Karman, Anna
PERRYSBURG
PERRYSBURG H.S.
Davies, Hannah
Fisher, Madison
Hollenbeck, William
Klapper, Karson
PLAIN CITY
JONATHAN ALDER H.S.
Ranly, Addison
POWELL
OLENTANGY LIBERTY H.S.
Brinkmann, Alden J.
Doshi, Dhruv H.
Hatch, Timothy S.
Julian, Neil
Koth, Jordan M.
McFarlane, Luke A.
Mishra, Shaurya
Wang, William
Wang, William
Wu, Thomas
REYNOLDSBURG
REYNOLDSBURG E STEM ACADEMY
Shroyer, Christopher
RICHFIELD
REVERE H.S.
Beesley, Emerson R.
Peron, Arthur L.
Sibbald, William P.
ROCKY RIVER
MAGNIFICAT H.S.
D’Souza, Angela
SANDUSKY
PERKINS H.S.
Brunning O’Malley, Shivan
SEAMAN
NORTH ADAMS H.S.
Reed, John D.
SHAKER HEIGHTS
HATHAWAY BROWN SCHOOL
Anabila, Michelle
Houghton, Maya
Jagetia, Aashvi
Nouman, Areesha
Peyrat, Nalini
Qi, Vivian
Reineks, Lindsay
Yadati, Ananya
Zhang, Jessie
LAUREL SCHOOL
Doherty, Cecilia
Mankaryous, Michelle
SHAKER HEIGHTS H.S.
Cavallo, Olivia
Price, Nathaniel
Sesenoglu-Laird, Lara
Szalay, Kyle
Tien, Neko
SOLON
SOLON H.S.
Bandi, Maahi
Barron, Finley
Dan, Evan
Dinh, Henry
Ismail, Rahid
Jacob, Rebecca
Karathanasis, Stratos
Kong, Yuahn
Kosaraju, Eashan
Lee, Emily
Lee, Grant
Lewis, Abigail
Mukherjee, Avighna
Patel, Hiba
Ramkumar, Siddharth
Shah, Vihaan
Shin, Bryan
Song, Frederick
Srikumar, Nandita
Stewart, Ian
Vilensky, Ariel
Wang, Christopher
Wei, Aaron
Xie, Zoey
Xiong, Abigail
SPRINGBORO
SPRINGBORO H.S.
Demoss, Morgan
Kaskey, Graham
Letavec, Claire
Thomas, Aaron
STEWART
FEDERAL HOCKING H.S.
Ridgway, Raen
STOW
STOW-MUNROE FALLS H.S.
Nester, Samuel P.
SYLVANIA
SYLVANIA NORTHVIEW H.S.
Koepfer, Lacey
Lee, Daniel
Lee, Harhui
SYLVANIA SOUTHVIEW H.S.
Shao, Henry
Zheng, Catherine
TOLEDO ISLAMIC ACADEMY
Khan, Faliha
THE PLAINS
ATHENS H.S.
Koshal, Prem
Wood, Aviva
TIPP CITY
TIPPECANOE H.S.
Guo, Zicheng
TOLEDO
MAUMEE VALLEY COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL
Amonette, Simon
NOTRE DAME ACADEMY
Busse, Elise
ST. JOHN’S JESUIT H.S.
Black, Joshua
TWINSBURG
TWINSBURG H.S.
Naidu, Sudeshna G.
UPPER ARLINGTON
UPPER ARLINGTON H.S.
Cavallario, Anthony M.
Fitkin, William R.
Goyal, Keshav A.
Hampel, Edie E.
Hunt, Hannah M.
Kennedy, Colin M.
MidlamMohler, Isabel E.
Nguyen, Angela O.
Pathak, Anya
Pecourt, Adrian P.
Petzinger, Andrew J.
Schmersal, Matthew M.
Sutherland, Ayla A.
Vacchiano, Alexander F.
Vutha, Mani R.
WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE
MIAMI TRACE H.S.
DeBruin, Isabelle
WEST CHESTER
LAKOTA WEST H.S.
Conner, Colin
Kirkmeyer, Bonny
Rivera, Alex
WESTERVILLE
WESTERVILLE NORTH H.S.
Marsolo, Cameron M.
Scarbrough, James P.
WESTERVILLE SOUTH H.S.
Gorenz, Westley C.
Johnson, Sarah K.
Pedro, Monchebolatan S.
WESTLAKE
WESTLAKE H.S.
Aring, Sujith
Davalla, John
DeAngelis, Raine
Guduguntla, Ria
Pelles, Abigail
Pugh, Alaina
Suffredini, Benjamin
Szabo, Evan
WOOSTER
WOOSTER H.S.
Ionescu, Marc
WORTHINGTON
THOMAS WORTHINGTON H.S.
Hershhorn, Isaac W.
Konar, Suvam
Levingston, Leah K.
XENIA
HOMESCHOOL / ONLINE SCHOOL
Guisleman, Luke
YOUNGSTOWN
URSULINE H.S.
Choufani, Emma
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