The National Merit Scholarship Corporation recently named nine students from The Frazer School as semifinalists for the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program.
One student, Eileen Lai, earned the highest selection index score (total score) on the exam, according to a Frazer School press release.
During this past school year, 1.3 million high school juniors took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, with only 16,000 earning semifinalist status based on their scores.
The semifinalists will have the opportunity to earn finalist status. Along with earning high SAT scores, the semifinalists will need to submit applications highlighting their other academic achievements, honors and awards earned, leadership activities, write an essay and receive teacher recommendations.
Among the nine Frazer School semifinalists, who include Jack Foran, Vijay Hans, Katie He, Eileen Lai, Philip Matchev, Sophia Rong, Caleb Wang, Thomas Wu, and Luke Xue, Eileen Lai achieved the highest possible score.
“We are very honored to have these nine incredible students who chose to enroll in our school in its inaugural year,” Frazer School Principal Olanrewaju Fayiga said in a press release.
The Frazer School opened its doors in August and has 300 students enrolled in grades 3-12.
This success can’t be attributed to the Frazer school. The school just started, it will take 5-6 years to see the performance of this new school.
These students are the product of public schools- congratulations to all the students who achieved this.
There are other kids in the county who are on this list, too. Why highlight only this school? Is the school paying to put this PR piece?
Actually, Frazer *can* take credit for this because he is the teacher who has been teaching these students for years in the public schools, and this is his school. The reason this school needs to highlight this achievement is because it is a school that will focus on merit, and indeed it will be instructive to see what happens to the number of national merit scholars at the Frazer school vs public schools in the area over the next 5 years.
Given the caliber of teachers and students as demonstrated here, we can be optimistic that a high academic standard will be maintained. This is particularly important given the implosion of the magnet program in the public schools. It is these very students who would have been sacrificed for the sake of the school board making a statement on DEI. And it is precisely because of these types of actions taken by school boards across the country that independent schools led by teachers who focus on merit are necessary. They provide an option for students and their families.
Heartfelt congratulations to the students and the school!
Mr. Frazier deserves complete credit for the mathematics component of these students’ success. However, NMS is broader than just math. There were many public school teachers across multiple disciplines over the years that also contributed. This demonstrates that public schools can provide appropriate education to even elite students. However, that requires recognition of and a commitment to meeting their special needs. There’s an increasing concern among parents of elite students that the commitment of SBAC to their educational needs is slipping away. Programs have been eliminated (Williams), understaffed (Lincoln), and diluted (Eastside). The message seems to be that “your kids will be fine without it”. Students across the entire range of abilities each have special educational needs. If the resources to meet those needs are limited and some students must be prioritized over others, then we must be intentional and transparent about it. At least everyone should know where they stand.
Florida is seemingly unwilling to fund public education beyond just “good enough” and voters seem OK with that.
I don’t think the issue is resources- the classes in the magnet program were diluted to bring in greater diversity with lottery students. It’s not as though more teachers were needed for the magnet program. And transparency doesn’t help students who have special needs on either end of the spectrum. We need more independent schools that serve those special needs. Not every school is going to be a fit for every student.
Yes, but this school also has a limited number of qualified teachers. The school has brought in some of the Frazers former math students or UF students from Frazer math team who haven’t yet finished their bachelor’s degrees to teach. For AP Human Geography, they just put on videos for instruction, and both kids and parents are suffering as a result. For history homework, parents have had to teach their own kids how to cite sources. Frazer is not a role model, and his communication skills are not something you’d want your child to emulate. The same goes for the principal, who believes punishing kids for his own poor communication is the best method. They seem to be on a power trip. Schrader School has also not followed any accreditation body or standard for many years. Instead of paying them, register your child for AOPS, Beast Academy, or Russian Math. They would succeed there. It’s the secret behind his math team—Asian and Indian parents paying for online classes.
All of them attended the same public school and were all in the same program lead by Frazer… do some research before commenting
Ur right
UR NOT SIGMA
Mainstreet ran a story on Sept. 11 for the representatives from the Alachua County Public Schools. Here is the link:
https://www.mainstreetdailynews.com/education/2025-alachua-county-national-merit-semifinalists
Because the school is in Alachua county although not part of the school district, it’s not like Oak Hall or some other private school had National Merit Semifinalists.
@k.vin
The Frazer School is already successful (where did the “5-6 years” come from?). As the saying goes, the caravan moves on while the dogs do the barking (louder than ever, it seems).
Each of these 9 students (congrats, I hope you all will be finalists and eventual winners of the NMS!) is the product of their high talents, hard work, family support and first-rate teachers who set high standards. Not of the public schools, per se.
McGraw has been a calamity of truly gigantic proportions, with some 800 students leaving ACPS over this past summer (the exodus is likely to continue). People kicked her out in a clear protest vote, precisely because of their disagreement with the decapitation of the magnet program in Gainesville and the county.
The very first students started classes this August. If your definition of “success” is being able to recruit National Merit students (mostly from public schools), then yes you are correct. But ask Billy Napier, Will Muschamp, etc. if recruiting without good teaching translates into good performance.
I agree with Kevin that 5-6 years will be needed to get a handle on true success. I expect them to be successful by most metrics, but they do face challenges. Frazier, while excellent, is closing in on retirement and will need a successor. Since a main theme of the school is competitive academics, they presumably will enroll elite students in all disciplines. But a student is likely not elite in EVERY discipline and the school must provide a well rounded education, perhaps at a “lower” level, in every discipline to students not elite in that subject. Can they do this just with voucher dollars or will this education be limited to those able to put in extra? Time will tell.
I would point out that the fact that the school was able to recruit elite rising seniors to switch to a start up school in itself speaks volumes about the quality of the teaching. These are elite students who know their worth and know intimately the quality of the teachers they would be working with. The fact that so many national merit semifinalists elected to switch to the school is as good a vote of confidence as there can be.
Regarding the quality of the education across disciplines, this hinges on the quality of the teachers. And Frazer is in a unique position to recruit not only elite students, but also elite teachers. Many of the teachers in his school are people he has known for many years, so he knows intimately their excellence.
Regarding funding, we know that throwing money at schools in and of itself does not ensure quality. What is needed is a vision and a culture of excellence. This is what is inculcated at this school. The voucher dollars, supplemented with a reasonable tuition fee, have been sufficient to pay these teachers and even provide free lunch. There is nothing in the financing of the model that would speak to this changing. Frazer is committed to making his school available to kids who want to work hard whatever their financial needs. He has been very clear about this publicly, and hopefully once the school establishes a record in the next few years, they can also fund raise.
Yes, but this school also has a limited number of qualified teachers. The school has brought in some of the principal’s former math students or UF students who haven’t yet finished their bachelor’s degrees to teach. For AP Human Geography, they just put on videos for instruction, and both kids and parents are suffering as a result. For history homework, parents have had to teach their own kids how to cite sources. Frazer is not a role model, and his communication skills are not something you’d want your child to emulate. The same goes for the principal, who believes punishing kids for his own poor communication is the best method. They seem to be on a power trip. Schrader School has also not followed any accreditation body or standard for many years. Instead of paying them, register your child for AOPS, Beast Academy, or Russian Math. They would succeed there. It’s the secret behind his math team—Asian and Indian parents paying for online classes.