Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS) announced on Wednesday that all 16 students who were honored as semifinalists in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship program have been named finalists.
According to an ACPS release, less than 1% of the nation’s high school seniors earned that status this year.
Approximately 1.5 million students took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test last year as juniors, with 16,000 receiving semifinalist status based on their exam performance.
To achieve finalist status, students had to submit applications that feature their awards, honors earned, other academic achievements, leadership activities, teacher recommendations and an essay.
The ACPS finalists in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship program are:
Buchholz High School: Annika Caedington, Pranay Gadikota, Shailey Karri, Evan Rotchford and Keith Zheng.
Eastside High School: Francheska Melendez, Irma Rahman, Juhyung Seong and Miles Smith.
Gainesville High School: Rowan Archer, Lina Dos Santos, Madeleine Goodrich, Irma Impink and Elizabeth Rant.
Professional Academies Magnet at Loften High School: Logan Rockwell.
Santa Fe High School: Robert Hu.