S EMIFINALISTS IN THE 2023
NATIONAL MERIT® SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
September 14, 2022 Announcement
Advance: For release on Wednesday, September 14, 2022
Note to editors: Semifi nalists in your state are listed alphabetically by city and
high school following this press release.
This material is prepared solely for news media to announce the names of
Semifi nalists; its use for any other purpose is prohibited.
Semifi nalists in the 2023 National Merit® Scholarship Program
(Evanston, Illinois) Today offi cials of National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC®)
announced the names of over 16,000 Semifi nalists in the 68th annual National Merit
Scholarship Program. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to
continue in the competition for some 7,250 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28
million that will be off ered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award,
Semifi nalists must fulfi ll several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition.
About 95 percent of the Semifi nalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and approximately
half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title.
NMSC, a not-for-profi t organization that operates without government assistance, was
established in 1955 specifi cally to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 340 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.
-moreCaution: Using numbers of Semifi nalists to compare high schools, educational systems, or
states will result in erroneous conclusions. The National Merit® Scholarship Program honors
individual students who show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous
college studies. The program does not measure the quality or eff ectiveness of education
within a school, system, or state. For more information about the competition, please visit
www.nationalmerit.org.
NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP CORPORATION
1560 Sherman Avenue, Suite 200, Evanston, Illinois 60201-4897 (847) 866-5100
Contact: Eileen Artemakis or Matthew Budreau Phone: (847) 866-5100
Public Information Email: mediainfo@nmerit.net
Website: www.nationalmerit.org
Add one
Semifi nalists in the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program
Steps in the 2023 Competition
High school juniors entered the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the
2021 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which
served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifi nalists, representing
less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state.
The number of Semifi nalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total
of graduating seniors.
To become a Finalist, the Semifi nalist and a high school offi cial must submit a detailed
scholarship application, in which they provide information about the Semifi nalist’s academic record,
participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment,
and honors and awards received. A Semifi nalist must have an outstanding academic record
throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school offi cial, write an essay, and
earn SAT® or ACT® scores that confi rm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.
From over 16,000 Semifi nalists, more than 15,000 are expected to advance to the Finalist
level, and in February they will be notifi ed 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 off ered in the spring of 2023. Every
Finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit® $2500 Scholarships that will be awarded
on a state-representational basis. About 950 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be
provided by approximately 180 corporations and business organizations for Finalists who meet their
specifi ed criteria, such as children of the grantor’s employees or residents of communities where
sponsor plants or offi ces are located. In addition, about 160 colleges and universities are expected
to fi nance some 3,800 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who will attend the
sponsor institution.
National Merit Scholarship winners of 2023 will be announced in four nationwide news
releases beginning in April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join nearly
368,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.
# # #
NMSC, National Merit, Merit Scholarship, Merit Scholar, and the corporate “Lamp of Learning” logo are federally registered service
marks of National Merit Scholarship Corporation. PSAT/NMSQT is a registered trademark of National Merit Scholarship Corporation and College
Board. SAT is a registered trademark of College Board. ACT is a registered trademark of ACT, Inc.
Semifinalists: 2023 National
Merit Scholarship Program
3
ARKANSAS
ARKADELPHIA
ARKADELPHIA H. S.
451 Clardy, Calvin R.
BEEBE
BEEBE H. S.
999 McMullen, Brady A.
BENTON
BENTON H. S.
000 Armstrong, Elizabeth P.
161 Calaway, Morgan R.
678 Fogleman, Abigail E.
550 Francis, Blair E.
999 Tucker, Trevor J.
BENTONVILLE
ARKANSAS CONNECTIONS
ACADEMY
999 Biddle, Zephi A.
BENTONVILLE H. S.
000 Bingham, Douglas M.
000 Clark, Siridean C.
000 Deans, Kaitlin E.
000 Gupta, Aniket
000 Holscher, Alton J.
000 Kudapa, Sindhuja L.
000 Leekkala, Anish R.
000 Mahajan, Aryan
000 Miller, Brett J.
000 Pearce, Katherine G.
000 Ratheesh, Rohith
000 Rice, Wyatt E.
000 Schaefer, Morgan L.
000 Sommer, Lola K.
000 Tadiparthi, Akshaj
000 Taori, Muskan S.
000 Vasireddy, Dinesh T.
FOUNDERS CLASSICAL ACADEMY
553 Looney, Elise C.
HAAS HALL ACADEMY
000 Allipilli, Eekshita T.
467 Alvarado, Chase A.
999 Eraniyan, Ahilan
454 Palagiri, Farheen
160 Puvvada, Sriya V.
HOMESCHOOL
843 Sooter, John S.
BLYTHEVILLE
KIPP BLYTHEVILLE
COLLEGIATE H. S.
161 Mittal, Sameer
BOONEVILLE
BOONEVILLE H. S.
999 Deltedesco, Lucas A.
BRYANT
BRYANT H. S.
000 Fuhrman, Garrett A.
161 Rohant, Deeya T.
CABOT
CABOT H. S.
907 Childs, Alexis M.
999 Madar, Carly E.
160 Martin, Emma G.
450 Ringgold, Robert K.
000 Thurman, Nathan
CENTERTON
BENTONVILLE WEST H. S.
000 Jackson, Lauren N.
301 Khalil Ahamed, Farah F.
453 Macy, Elisabeth G.
LIFE WAY CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
451 Fowler, Asa R.
CONWAY
CONWAY CHRISTIAN H. S.
467 Geaney, Joseph
CONWAY H. S.
792 Boudrie, Ella G.
185 Crockett, Bryan T.
999 Hill, Hugh J.
160 Jimenez, Antonio J.
160 Schluterman, Emily C.
EL DORADO
EL DORADO H. S.
164 Obiozo, Kieran C.
430 Stipp-Bethune, John R.
FAYETTEVILLE
FAYETTEVILLE H. S.
000 Barraza Del-Barco, Salvador
000 Caston, Cameron B.
000 Chen, Alan
000 Di, Karen A.
000 Dresel, Kenja L.
000 Fu, Le J.
000 Fuson Kennedy, Thomas
160 Hennigan, Sofia G.
000 Jacobus, Benjamin B.
000 McMath, Nathan C.
999 Park, Maren G.
854 Patel, Taksh Y.
710 Petrone, Jennifer C.
162 Raich, Irene Y.
000 Robinson, Lillian L.
742 Schremmer, Huck W.
HAAS HALL ACADEMY
301 Bodishbaugh, Jacob A.
185 Cashman, Leena
000 Mathis, Melody R.
303 Prabhudesai, Sohan S.
520 Waggoner, Natalie K.
628 Willroth, Hannah A.
742 Wu, Philip X.
FORT SMITH
SOUTHSIDE H. S.
628 Flanders, Myles P.
000 Jackson, Lucas M.
628 Khan, Eshal Z.
185 Miller, Jackson G.
000 Nguyen, Tu M.
000 Rana, Zain J.
160 Rotaru, David
GREENWOOD
GREENWOOD H. S.
501 Ambriz, David
454 Williams, Lilly M.
467 Wittig, Lucas B.
HARRISON
HARRISON H. S. CONVERSION
CHARTER SCHOOL
160 Myers, Rylee G.
HOT SPRINGS
ARKANSAS SCHOOL FOR
MATHEMATICS, SCIENCES AND
THE ARTS
999 Adamos, Eliana M.
303 Boerwinkle, Robert F.
999 Cooper, Mason H.
162 Duey, Savanna L.
000 Helms, Connor E.
000 Mitchell, Cecil
742 Xiong, Charis
FOUNTAIN LAKE H. S.
907 Wendel, Tristan C.
HOMESCHOOL
999 Wright, Sophia A.
LAKESIDE H. S.
000 Hollis, Benjamin L.
JONESBORO
THE ACADEMIES AT
JONESBORO H. S.
628 Dow, Connor
870 Rich, Kira A.
VALLEY VIEW H. S.
457 Wilson, Jackson C.
LITTLE ROCK
CATHOLIC H. S. FOR BOYS
907 Dillman, Andrew S.
999 Fraley, Owen C.
904 Walsh, Mason A.
CENTRAL H. S.
999 Ahmad, Adam
628 Doss, Jessica
000 Finkbeiner, Alison S.
000 Gao, Ann
720 Gong, Michelle
773 Liu, Aaron C.
628 Sathish Kumar, Jaiadhi
185 Sharma, Parag
E STEM HIGH CHARTER SCHOOL
000 Ellis, Sean P.
EPISCOPAL COLLEGIATE SCHOOL
000 Cooley, Emma G.
000 Cooley, Jacob M.
000 Grumbles, Andrew T.
000 Mogbo, Lotanna C.
LISA ACADEMY
742 Taylor, Harlem J.
LITTLE ROCK
CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
185 Halbert, Adison
999 Molleston, Jenna
MOUNT ST. MARY ACADEMY
000 Dalton, Madeline Q.
000 Ratycz, Anya S.
PULASKI ACADEMY
000 Anca, Alex N.
999 Diaz, Joshua A.
999 Duke, Trevor R.
000 Ford, Jonathan B.
000 Hacioglu, Aybars
454 Kuli, Charlotte R.
999 Parray, Mariam T.
883 Rollins, Maylee A.
451 Thomason, Allen C.
JOE T. ROBINSON H. S.
000 Ridlon, Annabelle E.
NORTH LITTLE ROCK
CENTRAL ARKANSAS
CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
628 Bryant, Riley O.
000 Hekmatpour, Yasmine F.
000 Reaves, Sarah P.
LISA ACADEMY NORTH
459 Schroeder, Asher Cade
NORTH LITTLE ROCK H. S.
000 Larsen, Liam K.
PEARCY
LAKE HAMILTON H. S.
999 Barnes, Austin C.
ROGERS
ARKANSAS ARTS ACADEMY
947 White, Jackson W.
HAAS HALL ACADEMY
455 Bajaj, Parishee
000 Crawford, Hannah M.
600 Elliott, Eli S.
000 Pleiman, Andrew R.
619 Zamarron, Devlin P.
PROVIDENCE CLASSICAL
CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
000 Roberts, Stephen B.
ROGERS H. S.
712 Beeman, Ella J.
000 Milam, Zane A.
000 Zheng, Charles T.
ROGERS HERITAGE H. S.
455 Harrison, Taryn E.
ROLAND
HOMESCHOOL
999 Giggleman, Alison K.
SEARCY
HARDING ACADEMY
843 Murphy, Julia M.
SEARCY H. S.
628 Sledge, Gaby E.
SHERWOOD
SYLVAN HILLS H. S.
742 Griffin, Daniel M.
628 Zermatten, Brooke
SPRINGDALE
HAAS HALL ACADEMY -
JONES CENTER
162 Waide, Cassidy J.
HAR - BER H. S.
999 Barnes, Sophia E.
450 Crockett, Christian Z.
904 Graham, Knox E.
303 Kingsbury, Nathaniel C.
999 McDonald, Maxwell
200 Myers, James P.
451 Paull, Evan C.
628 Peters, Lauryn C.
HOMESCHOOL
430 Cross, Kyla L.
OZARK CATHOLIC ACADEMY
000 Passantino, Mia
SHILOH CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
999 Paschall, Sage D.
SPRINGDALE SCHOOL
OF INNOVATION
300 Wetzel, Eli
STAR CITY
STAR CITY H. S.
303 Chen, Tony
VALLEY SPRINGS
VALLEY SPRINGS H. S.
712 Hensley, Dason L.
459 Vail, Christopher L.
