Seven students in the Class of 2026 have been named National Merit Semifinalists. They represent less than 1 % of the nation’s high school graduating seniors who scored the highest on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Around 16,000 semifinalists were selected from more than 1.3 million students throughout 20,000 high schools who entered the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the standardized test last year as juniors. As semifinalists, these students will have an opportunity to advance in the competition for Merit Scholarship awards. This year’s semifinalists include:
- Gavin O’Meara, Central High School
- Siddharth Srivastava, Central High School
- Frey Wu, Central High School
- Shriya Nallan Chakravarthi, Eastern High School
- Christian Boyce, Northern High School
- Sara Gupta, Northern High School
- Lidija Habekovic, Northern High School
In addition to our seven National Merit Semifinalists, 22 seniors were named Commended Students. These students represent more than two-thirds (about 34,000) of the high scorers designated as Commended Students. While these students do not advance in the scholarship competition, their achievements are still noteworthy. FHPS Commended Students include:
- Victoria Chiaburu, Central High School
- Julian Fernandez, Central High School
- Matthew Gascon, Central High School
- Rachel Kittell, Central High School
- Jackson Madigan, Central High School
- Grant McLean, Central High School
- Ethan Moon, Central High School
- Ella Peirce, Central High School
- Lincoln Schmitz, Central High School
- Joseph Song, Central High School
- Ananya Arulmurugan, Eastern High School
- Maria Christopoulos, Eastern High School
- Abigail Huffman, Eastern High School
- Dhanush Majji, Eastern High School
- Sawyer Shelden, Eastern High School
- Jacob VanVlerah, Eastern High School
- Kenna Charbauski, Northern High School
- Madeleine Decker, Northern High School
- Sebastian Madlangbayan, Northern High School
- Ameena Rahman, Northern High School
- Gabriel Williams, Northern High School
- Edward Wuerthele, Northern High School
