WCS Students Break National Merit Semifinalist Record

Williamson County Schools students have set a new district record for National Merit Semifinalists. This year, 95 students earned the prestigious designation.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced the Semifinalists Wednesday, September 9. The previous district record was 85 National Merit Semifinalists, set in 2024.

"Our record 95 National Merit Semifinalists is a powerful reflection of the academic strength found across WCS," said Interim Superintendent Dr. Leigh Webb. "While we proudly celebrate these students, this achievement also speaks to the dedicated teachers and strong school communities across our 52 schools that helped them reach this milestone."

High school students enter the National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Of the 1.5 million students to enter the program, only about 16,000 receive this honor each year. Any Semifinalist who has been selected as a National Merit Scholarship Finalist will be notified in February. To become a Finalist, the Semifinalist and their high school must submit an application including information about the Semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, leadership abilities, employment and any honors and awards they received.

Congratulations to the students listed below:

Brentwood High

• Liam Ching
• Natalie Chou
• Kole Claybrook
• Gavin DiCaprio
• Sullivan Fielder
• Matthew Greer
• Jibran Khan
• Sana Khan
• Riley Markley
• Aidan Odom
• Ethan Odom
• Zachary Sterling
• Katelyn Verni
• Anna Vestevich
• Melissa Wang
• Yueran Xu
• Cameron Youngblood
• Audrey Yu

Centennial High

• Anson Castelo
• Rane Jensen
• Iker Rodriguez-Rincon
• Brandon Smith
• Collin Smith
• Chloe Tapperson
• Logan Williamson

Franklin High

• Jane Altman
• Andrew Brown
• Adam Gallers
• Alessandra Halloran
• Ruby Hatley
• Abigail Horne
• Yiming Huang
• Sri Inampudi
• Anh Le
• Ryan Marina
• Connor Parton
• Naman Rastogi
• Samuel Reynolds
• Liam Rock
• Elizabeth Sessions
• Lydia Smith
• Malenda White
• Emma Zhang

Independence High

• Edwin Chen
• Zixuan Dong
• Jonathan Fulton
• Jackson Hughes
• Corinne Weller

Nolensville High

• Chaelie Davis
• Puneeth Pradeep
• Avery Russell
• Jonas Seyfried

Page High

• Anshul Bera
• Hailee Berry
• Calen Brandon
• Daniel Callahan
• Ann Cherry
• Brady Fox
• David Kickirillo
• Cole Rodriguez

Ravenwood High

• Sami Ammar
• Advik Anand
• Noah Bischof
• Aryan Chaitanya
• Alexander Crane
• Evan Daruwalla
• Impana Dyamenahalli
• Aarav Gopidi
• Bresden Hassler
• Amogh Kakumanu
• Anish Kodali
• Vidhushi Kondabathini
• Devin Liu
• Van Mai Ly
• Zachary McAtee
• Daksh Mukerji
• Alyssa Murray
• Aditya Nandina
• Rejoice Ogunde
• Anika Pandey
• Yeshmith Peethala
• Rushil Pradeep
• Joanna Qi
• Vivaan Rochlani
• Magdalene Rowan
• Edison Shen
• Darsh Shrivastava
• Ethan Varghese

Summit High

• Euan Barr
• Naomi Castro-Harris
• Henley Davidson
• Emma Guina
• Ezekiel Lazear
• Colt Miller
• Cecilia Wooldridge