26 MMSD National Merit Scholar Semifinalists

MMSD continued the tradition of having a remarkable number of National Merit Scholar Semifinalists, with 26 outstanding high school seniors achieving this milestone.

Students entered the 2023-24 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semifinalists represents less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, and includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state.

These students have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,250 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28 million that will be offered next spring.

To become a finalist, students and their advisors must provide information about their academic record, their leadership abilities, participation in activities at school and around the community, and about any honors or awards they've received.

Vel Phillips Memorial High School: Anvika Annyapu, Jonathan Buscher, Emily Ge, Daniel Isaac, Sophia Jiang, Keomali Johnston, Donghyun (Vince) Kim, Claire Lucas, Priyanka Lucey, Alexandra Saffman, Niyati Sejpal

East High School: Matthew Diedrich

West High School: Gavin An, Ari Blehert, Brynn Dixson-Kruijf, Justin DuBeau, Caleb Ellenberg, Raphael Espinoza-Forlenza, Elliot Fruit-Ross, Robert Henkelmann, Robert Igic, Joseph Kaji, Gannon Mefford, Finn Peters, Ari Rabinowitz, Brynn Ronk