Officials of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced on September 10th, the names of more than 16,000 Semifinalists in the 71st annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 6,930 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 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 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and approximately half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.
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 nearly 389,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.
This year, MLWGS has eighteen National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalists from the Class of 2026, nine from Henrico, five from Chesterfield, three from Hanover, and one from Richmond. Congratulations to our seniors:
| Asra Z. Ali – Richmond |
| Abigail H. Barnett – Henrico |
| Elijah Chen – Henrico |
| Lilith E. Holmes – Chesterfield |
| Rowan Kanach – Hanover |
| Alina Laraway – Henrico |
| William Lin – Henrico |
| David Lins – Chesterfield |
| Yash Maurya – Henrico |
| Sriram Panchagnula – Henrico |
| Joel Pritchard – Chesterfield |
| Ethan Roerink – Hanover |
| Samhith Sarva – Henrico |
| Sophia Schaffernoth – Henrico |
| Helen Teague – Chesterfield |
| Thienvan Vo – Chesterfield |
| Mark Wood – Hanover |
| Daniel Zhang – Henrico |
We also send our appreciation and gratitude to the MLWGS Senior Counselors Dr. Rachel Loving and Ms. Kimberly Forquer, for your steady guidance of our students through this program.
