Published 9:21 am Thursday, September 18, 2025
By Tyler Raley
By TYLER RALEY | Staff Writer
NORTH SHELBY – As all of the high school seniors across the country prepare to take their next steps following graduation in May, a select few are taking in their senior year with a major academic achievement on the line.
Six of Oak Mountain High School’s seniors in the class of 2026 were recently named as 2026 National Merit Scholarship semifinalists, adding to a rich tradition of academic excellence at the institution.
“We’re so proud of these students,” said Oak Mountain High School Principal Andrew Gunn. “Our greatest resource here at Oak Mountain High School is our students and our families that send us some of the best kids you could ever imagine. It’s just a great recognition for this group of students that work so hard through their time here at Oak Mountain High School, and we’re really proud of them to recognized in this way.
This year, more than 16,000 students were named as semifinalists for the 71st annual National Merit Scholarship Program. All of the students in the list will have an opportunity to compete and be awarded one of the 6,930 National Merit Scholarships worth a total of almost $26 million.
For the 2026 cycle, the students who were named as semifinalists are Robert Bou, Daniel Collins, Brandon Cui, Elizabeth Head, Andrew White and Margaret Rodgers, a group of students that Gunn feels has been a shining example of the standard that the institution strives to uphold.
“It’s our community’s expectation that we have high academic standards here at Oak Mountain High School,” Gunn said. “They demonstrate a standard of excellence that we’re so proud of and we just look forward to supporting them and all of our students as they pursue their academic endeavors.”
OMHS officially holds half of the 12 students from Shelby County Schools who qualified to be named semifinalists, with four coming from Helena High School and the other two coming from Chelsea High School.
With that kind of recognition happening at Oak Mountain, Gunn emphasized its importance, as the underclassmen can look up to those individuals and get to their level by the time they are seniors.
“The students that have achieved recognitions like National Merit semifinalists, they set a very high standard and expectation for everybody else,” Gunn said. “It allows our underclassmen to have something to strive for that they can see themselves receiving these kinds of honors one day and to see the fruits of hard work that they’re doing right now.”
According to the National Merit program, more than 1.3 million juniors entered the program by taking the 2024 Preliminary SAT. The semifinalists pool is made up of the highest-scoring students in each state, which make up 1 percent of the now seniors.
The semifinalists will now submit a scholarship application that will include the student’s academic record, student and community involvement, leadership ability, received honors and more. The group of more than 16,000 semifinalists will see more than 15,000 make it to the finals.
Seeing six more Eagles join a distinguished list of alumni who have gotten to this point in the past is something Gunn does not take lightly, and as he says, makes him even happier to be at Oak Mountain High School.
“I’m just so unbelievably proud—proud of these students and proud just to be a part of this organization here at Oak Mountain High School and in Shelby County Schools as a whole,” Gunn said. “It’s such a great school system and this is such a great high school. I’m just happy to be a part of it.”
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