Semifinalists in the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program

Officials of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) recently announced the names of approximately 16,000 Semifinalists in the 63rd annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million that will be offered next spring.

To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. About 90 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and about half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.

NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 420 business organizations and higher education institutions that share NMSC’s goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.

About 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2016 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. 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.

To become a Finalist, the Semifinalist and his or her high school 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 scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.

From the approximately 16,000 Semifinalists, about 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 this group of Finalists. Merit Scholar designees are selected 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.

National Merit Scholarships

Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2018:

• Every Finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit $2500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state-representational basis.
• About 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be provided by approximately 230 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.
• In addition, about 190 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 4,000 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.

For more information about the competition, visit NMSC’s website at nationalmerit.org.

2018 Tennessee Semifinalists

Arlington — Arlington High School

• Taylor A. Dempsey
• Luke M. Durkee

Bell Buckle — Webb School

• Jones C. Allison
• Kelty R. Shroyer

Brentwood — Brentwood Academy

• Sarah R. Bryant
• Kennedy L. Jarvis

Brentwood — Brentwood High School

• Andrew Dai
• Vasudhasri Devarasetty
• Muhammad H. Fazili
• Laura Guo
• Brandon L. Huynh
• Hayley E. Jordan
• Jackson D. McNabb
• Aditya R. Pillai
• Ethan M.Shull
• Deepak Sundaramoorthy
• Coby A.Warkentin
• Roger L. Yuan

Brentwood — Ravenwood High School

• Leah Farmer
• Natasha Hamid
• Riya Jain
• Natalie N. Joseph
• Kaitlyn L. Mi
• Adam V. Novak
• Stacey D. Xiang
• Chase B. Yarbrough

Chattanooga — Baylor School

• Andrew T. Butt
• Hayley M. Harwood
• Grace B. McKenney
• Jarrod Vetzel

Chattanooga — Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences

• Zoe H. Zimmerman

Chattanooga — Collegiate High School

• Annika G. Lee

Chattanooga — Girls Preparatory School

• Margaret S. Lim
• Tatiana R. Poggi
• Kathryn S. Thel
• Sophie M. Veys

Chattanooga — McCallie School

• Chase J. Gaume
• Andrew Landsbergen
• Gavin H. LaPlace
• Allen F. Liu
• Andrew L. Lott
• Ahmad M. Nisar
• Jaewon Sung

Chattanooga — Stem School

• Elias E. Basler

Cleveland — Cleveland High School

• Brian T. Byerly

Clinton — Anderson County High School

• Abbey G. List

Collierville — Collierville High School

• Nicholas P. Hayes
• Yumin Lee
• Richard T. Li
• Michael J. Linder
• Kaitlyn N. Linney
• Sebastian T. Mobo
• Akaash Padmanabha
• Jefferson H. Wang
• Maia N. Woodard
• Jeffrey W. Yu

Cookeville — Cookeville High School

• Andrew T. Gothard

Cordova — Evangelical Christian School

• Hadassah Betapudi

Cordova — St. Benedict at Auburndale High School

• Catherine Crowe
• Alyssa M. Denegri
• Isabelle M. Verret

Dickson — Dickson County High School

• Jonathan S. Anderson

Dyersburg — Dyersburg High School

• Logan A. Miller

Eads — Briarcrest Christian High School

• Annie E. Barber
• Rachel E. Collins
• Lilac C. Ding
• Matthew H. Stuart
• Barrett S. Tillman

Franklin — Battle Ground Academy

• Elizabeth R. Blackstone
• Cameron M. Clark

Franklin — Centennial High School

• Andrew Brackins
• Murphy N. DePompei
• Margaret L. Herndon
• Molly K. Kreider
• Christian R. Sponsel

Franklin — Franklin High School

• Jack H. Brimm
• Lawton Bryant
• Jason W. Davidson
• Timothy B. Grove
• Janelle M. Ickes
• John F. McElroy
• Amelia G. Mitchell
• Marshall C. Morrison
• Stephen Jon D. Quiton

Franklin — Grace Christian Academy

• Rachel A. Goodman

Franklin — Fred J. Page High School

• Tanvi M. Jivtode
• Paxton C. Lifsey

Gatlinburg — Pittman High School

• Lindsay G. Ball
• Rahul Bhojwani

Germantown — Germantown High School

• Elizabeth R. Dang

Germantown — Homeschool

• Thomas A. Bailey
• Corbin L. Beckerman

Germantown — Houston High School

• Lilly He
• Mohammed I. Hyder
• Adam D. Kim
• Jonathan C. Wang
• Vincent C. Wang

Greeneville — Greeneville High School

• Nathaniel I. Ashley

Hendersonville — Hendersonville High School

• Madison G. Terrell

Hendersonville — Merrol Hyde Magnet School

• Seth A. Battad
• Jonathan C. Caldwell

Hendersonville — Pope John Paul II High School

• Alexandria J. Ficarro
• William M. Fussell
• Aubrey A. Little

Jackson — Madison Academic Magnet High School

• Aline W. Johnstone

Jackson — University School

• Tyler G. Bruno
• Anjali Mahajan

Johnson City — Science Hill High School

• Justin M. Canfield
• Molly Hance
• Zeyun Wang
• Clay Y. Wheeler
• Isaac G. Wright

Johnson City — University School

• Sydney M. Thomas

Jonesborough — David Crockett High School

• Corbin T. Cowden
• Abigail Stuart

Kingsport — Dobyns-Bennett High School

• Ashley E. Batts
• John L. Corker
• Nathaniel Silvey
• Kate L. Tolleson
• Rithvik Vutukuri

Kingsport — Homeschool

• W. Alex Crow
• Elizabeth E. Dotson
• Matthew Daniel Floyd

Kingston Springs — Harpeth High School

• James H. Collier
• Jared P. Higgs
• Stephen E. Jacobs

Knoxville — Bearden High School

• Tyler F. Chan
• Austin Gardner
• James P. McIntyre

Knoxville — Farragut High School

• Caleb Y. Bradley
• Kevin Chen
• Roger Chen
• Daniel J. Choo
• Harrison C. Crawford
• Anna Delahunt
• Katherine Delahunt
• Alexander R. Galindo
• Michelle S. He
• Michael X. Lin
• Rachel G. Margulies
• Anni K. Ohstrom
• Kevin Sun
• Aidan A. Thomason
• Eric Wang

Knoxville — Hardin Valley Academy

• Thomas A. Banker
• Ryan M. Hart

Knoxville — Homeschool

• Andrew B. Jerome

Knoxville — Knoxville Catholic High School

• Emily J. Boder
• Caroline E. Consoli
• Nathan T. Geist

Knoxville — Webb School

• Rachel S. Anderson
• Joseph R. Broady
• Katherine G. Bullen
• Evan V. Davies
• Simone I. Digby
• John G. Gulley
• Emory E. Scism
• Spencer T. Williams
• Knoxville — West High School
• Howard L. Beale
• Katherine O. Diamond
• Benjamin D. Gibbons
• Blair Johnson
• Christian H. Peevyhouse
• Kacey Y. Tomsovic
• William S. Yates

Manchester — Coffee County Central High School

• Thomas R. Lemmons

Maryville — William Blount High School

• Kathryn G. Brinkley

Maryville — Maryville High School

• Erica A. Snell
• Catherine V. Spurlock

Memphis — Bowie Reading Learning Center

• Emily E. Hieatt

Memphis — Christian Brothers High School

• Bryce T. Cornell
• Matthew E. Hubbard
• Matthew J. Lazarov
• Dwight M. Moore

Memphis — Homeschool

• Lily M. Gray

Memphis — Lausanne Collegiate School

• Samuel A. Hori
• Allison Y. Kerr
• Milanca X. Wang

Memphis — Memphis University School

• Graham F. Boswell
• Benjamin W. Freeman
• Eli B. Gruen
• Omkar G. Hosad
• Jackson J. Howell
• Jeremy A. Jacobs
• William J. Kaltenborn
• Bradley J. Kerkhof
• Jackson P. Moody
• Richard M. Reinhard
• Robert B. Wade
• Mason C. Williams
• Chang Yu

Memphis — St. Agnes Academy

• Caroline G. Melancon

Memphis — St. Mary’s Episcopal School

• Chelsey O. Chen
• Savanna F. Grinspun
• Nina Kumar
• Eleanor V. McGhee
• Sydney E. Nichols

Memphis — White Station High School

• Madeline L. Danziger
• Justin Du
• Levi H. Evans
• Rachel M. Fan
• Sanjana Varma Kosuri
• Grace Ma
• Alleanna Raye C. Marquez
• Viral A. Patel
• Theodore C. Patt
• Zachary W. Roder
• Keegan T. Vacanti
• Nilai R. Vemula
• Xintong Wang

Millington — Faith Heritage Christian Academy

• Emily C. Duff
• Daniel Patrick O’Malley
• Eric Alan Pillow
• Emily J. Schneidau

Morristown — Morristown-Hamblen High School East

• Mattie F. Bryant
• Joshua T. Mandzak

Mount Juliet — Mount Juliet High School

• Benjamin Giacobbi
• Lillian G. Wallace

Murfreesboro — Blackman High School

• Madison L. Fabber
• Nathan D. Jenkins
• Luke J. Porter

Murfreesboro — Central Magnet School

• John E. Allbritten
• Morgan A. Elrod-Erickson
• May J. Huang
• Hannah R. Middleton
• Reuben E. Savage
• Ethan T. Slipher
• Chelsey Zhu

Murfreesboro — Oakland High School

• Connor T. Coughran

Nashville — Montgomery Bell Academy

• Christopher B. Falls
• William M. Freeman
• Tobias D. Houghton
• Henry B. Jablonski
• James C. King
• Jinseo Lee
• Coady K. Lewis
• Jackson L. Long
• Brian C. Lu
• James R. McKnight
• Michael A. Miccioli
• Alexander W. Renkis
• Jamison L. Russ
• John N. Sullivan
• Benjamin L. Wassynger

Nashville — Christ Presbyterian Academy

• Philip R. Charles

Nashville — Ensworth High School

• Donald K. Lawrence

Nashville — Franklin Road Academy

• Claire E. Luthy

Nashville — Harpeth Hall School

• Hailey Fox
• Maya P. Misra
• Elizabeth S. Ossolinski
• Carmon J. Proctor
• Valerie M. Sheehan
• Avery E. Taylor
• Emma Trost
• Stella Vujic
• Keri K. Wang

Nashville — Hillsboro High School

• Sylvie M. Stephenson

Nashville — Homeschool

• Erika J. Plunkett

Nashville — Hume-Fogg Academic High School

• Christopher J. Damon
• William Hileman
• Ramey A. Hulse
• Santhosh M. Mathialagan
• Curran Neenan
• Henry G. Paul
• Grayson L. Peters
• Mudi Yang
• Tianhao Zhao
• Lu Zheng

Nashville — Lipscomb Academy

• Eli D. Bradley

Nashville — Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet High School

• Alexander C. Davis
• Kiersten E. Frye
• Kevin J. Gomez
• Kristi Maisha
• Nolan K. Smith
• Youli Yao

Nashville — McGavock High School

• Hayley K. White

Nashville — Father Ryan High School

• Ryan J. Conger
• Emma K. Dooling
• Kade Foster
• Ryan C. Kelley
• Caroline E. Kreh
• Rachel L. Phan
• Quentin D. Rummo
• Efrain M. Valencia

Nashville — University School

• Elijah Hong
• Alexander C. Lomis
• Isabelle C. Wierum

Oak Ridge — Oak Ridge High School

• Joseph D. Andress
• Olivia R. Milloway
• Sarah E. Roth
• Adithyan Sujithkumar

Ooltewah — East Hamilton School

• Joseph D. Azevedo
• Joshua Benedict M. Lagria

Ooltewah — Ooltewah High School

• Phillip M. Dyer

Paris — Henry County High School

• Cameron J. May

Portland — Portland High School

• McKenzie D. Morris

Sevierville — Sevier County High School

• Charles D. Blalock

Seymour — Seymour High School

• Konnor Porter

Signal Mountain — Signal Mountain High School

• Tamjeed Azad

Smyrna — Stewarts Creek High School

• Jack C. Seage

Spring Hill — Summit High School

• Harper L. de Bassim
• Andi L. Mitchell
• Jared R. Schmidt

Thompson’s Station — Independence High School

• Maxwell J. Coil
• Sean C. Smith
• Ray VanHorn

Tullahoma — Tullahoma High School

• Bradley T. Holmes
• Alexis C. Holt
• Caleb T. Purdue