The National Merit Scholarship Corporation recently named seven students from The Frazer School in Gainesville as semifinalists for the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program. 

According to a Frazer School press release, more than 1.3 million juniors entered the NMS program by completing the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) last October. Roughly 16,000 students earned semifinalist status based on their test scores. 

“The pool of approximately 16,000 National Merit Semifinalist constitutes less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors,” the release stated. 

Students in Florida needed to have an index score of 219 or higher out of 228 to be a semifinalist, the release said. The semifinalists will have the opportunity to earn finalist status by submitting a detailed scholarship application. 

The seven Frazer School semifinalists are Bach Ngo, Xuyao Zhang, Aliana Chen, Michael Wei, Jimmy Jiang, Adityaa Ravi and Anish Patel.  

“I am extremely proud of our teachers who taught these students and the students themselves for this great recognition,” Frazer School Principal Olanrewaju Fayiga said in the release. “To have 50% of our senior class qualify is a testament to the high academic quality of students enrolled in our school.”