9 District 5 students named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists

Nine students from Lexington-Richland School District Five have been announced as semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship program.  These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 6,700 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $24 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 95% of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and roughly half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the “merit scholar” title.

School District Five National Merit Scholarship semifinalists include: Omachukwu Anadu (Spring Hill High), Anthony Fu (Dutch Fork High), Claire Ju (Spring Hill High), Arlen Murataliev (Spring Hill High), Keenan Reynolds (Chapin High), Jackson Roy (Dutch Fork High), Madeline Rutherford (Spring Hill High), Anna Shelley (Dutch Fork High) and Zhixuan Xu (Dutch Fork High).

"Congratulations to each of our students who have been recognized as National Merit Scholarship semifinalists,” said School District Five Chief of Academics Tina McCaskill. “The accomplishments of these nine students demonstrate our district's commitment to academic excellence from our teachers and students. We celebrate with these students and their families and wish them well in the next steps of the program and their senior year."

More than 1.2 million juniors in about 20,000 high schools entered the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2025 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than 1% 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 a high school official 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 or ACT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.

Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2027. Every finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit $2,500 scholarships that will be awarded on a state-representational basis. About 700 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be provided by approximately 120 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 140 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 3,500 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.

National Merit Scholarship winners of 2026 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join more than 395,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the “merit scholar” title.