Bob Jones, James Clemens command National Merit totals for Alabama

MADISON – Officials with National Merit Scholarship Corporation have announced the names of Semifinalists in the 68th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Madison’s high schools are well represented with deserving students.

In fact, Madison City Schools once again has produced the most National Merit Semifinalists of any school district in Alabama — regardless of the district’s size. Bob Jones High School has 19 Semifinalists, with only one Alabama high school claiming more winners. James Clemens High School has 13 winners, making the Jets fifth place in the state among individual high schools.

With MCS having the most Semifinalist students at 32, Vestavia Hills High School was the next district in line with 21, followed by Hoover High School at 18. These results are especially noteworthy for Madison because few schools in Alabama break into rankings with the top ‘power schools’ in Birmingham suburbs.

Semifinalists at Bob Jones are Thais R. Arslanbekov, Elaine V. Bao, Neha S. Chopade, Puja S. Chopade, Anna E. Digges, Vincent T. Dinh, Kennedy G. Gore, Williams B. Hu, Bryce C. League, Cam N. Nguyen, Justin J. Pan, Ashwin Prabhakar, Lillian Qu, Pranav N. Ramesh, Soorya N. Ramesh, Craig H. Stephenson, Alexander M. Stern, Constance Wang and Jonathan L. Yang.

James Clemens Semifinalists include Sohail M. Baig, Yuti Das, Sherwood Dong, Ramshreyas R. Gade, Christopher Kang, Punarvi S. Mandadapu, Shaivi Pandey, Tevin Park, Pranav C. Somu, Elizabeth K. Swaine, Joshua X. Wang, Jeremiah J. Yang and Jerry L. Zheng.

These academically talented high school seniors now can continue in the competition for some 7,250 National Merit Scholarships worth approximately $28 million. National Merit Scholarship Corporation will award the scholarships and honors in spring 2023.

MCS Superintendent Dr. Ed Nichols said he’s proud of the students for their hard work and for the teachers that prepared them from the earliest grades on up.

Nichols credited the strong foundation of MCS from past and present leadership that continues with unwavering support of parents, community leaders, Madison Board of Education members, principals, administrators and dedicated teachers and staff in all MCS schools.

Twenty-six of MCS’ 32 National Merit Semifinalists solely attended Madison schools, according to MCS Public Relations Manager John S. Peck.

In addition, Sparkman High School had these semifinalists with Harvest addresses: Regan A. Beavers, Emily R. Centamore and Joshua L. Stover. From St. John Paul II Catholic High School, Catherine Hare earned the honor. At Westminster Christian Academy, Semifinalists were Luke Fowler, Jennifer Hamilton, Lori B. Madison and Anna C. Murphree.