MCS ranks as Alabama’s top district for National Merit Semifinalists
National Merit Semifinalists at James Clemens High School are (left to right) front row Emmett Armstrong, Praneel Avula, Saqib Baig, Emily Caldwell, Dahlia Ellison, Nikhita Katragadda and Pragya Kothari. Back Row: Ethan Leurck, Aneesh Maruvada, Maren Runyan, Superintendent Eric Terrell, Daniel Seewald, Shaurya Singh and Shreya Singh. Photo courtesy of James Clemens High School.
MADISON – Once again, students in Madison City Schools have claimed the most National Merit Semifinalists titles in Alabama.
James Clemens High School has 13 semifinalists, while 17 semifinalists attend Bob Jones High School. Thirty students from Bob Jones and James Clemens earned this prestigious academic honor. The combined total of 30 is the most of Alabama school districts statewide, regardless of size, MCS Public Relations Manager John Peck said.
Officials with the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced the qualifiers. The Merit Scholarships are now in their 72nd year.
National Merit Semifinalists at Bob Jones are Abigail Chan, Thalia Carlson, Benjamin Cox, Jeremy Wright, Xavier Bruni, Brandon Nguyen, Brelee Carbonneau, Margarita Matthews, Claire Zhang, Bonnie Halter, Arham Muhammad, Vedanth Gopinathan, Hatch Lombardi, Landon Drummond, Louis Johnson, William Yang and Aadil Singh.
Sylvia Lambert is Principal at Bob Jones.
National Merit Semifinalists at James Clemens are Emmett Armstrong, Praneel Avula, Saqib Baig, Emily Caldwell, Dahlia Ellison, Nikhita Katragadda, Pragya Kothari, Ethan Leurck, Aneesh Maruvada, Maren Runyan, Daniel Seewald, Shaurya Singh and Shreya Singh.
Dr. Kerry Donaldson Jr. is Principal at James Clemens.
Finalists with National Merit will be announced in February. The National Merit Scholarship Program is an annual academic competition for recognition and college undergraduate scholarships. Winners are chosen based on their abilities, skills and accomplishments — without regard to gender, race, ethnicity or religious preference.
Alabama has 234 National Merit Semifinalists statewide among 16,000 National Merit students across the country.
National Merit Semifinalists were selected based on test scores on the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, high school academic recommendations from a school official and additional SAT or ACT testing.
For more information, visit nationalmerit. org.
