FCPS Boasts 36 National Merit Semifinalists

2025 Scholarship Program Features Spring Competition

Fayette County Public Schools has produced three dozen semifinalists in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program. These students are among some 16,000 outstanding high school seniors who will compete for nearly $26 million in awards next semester.  

From Bryan Station:

• Jonathan Farrar

From Henry Clay:

• Claire Blandford
• Joshua Braun
• Noah Ferguson
• Peter Jefferson
• Lucille Montague
• William Thompson

From Lafayette:

• Trevor Agent
• Ryan Eby
• Nishad Joshi
• Ryan McGuffey
• Tess Nelson
• Emmalee Otipoby

From Paul Laurence Dunbar:

• Anika Agrawal
• Maya Davis
• Christopher Delcher
• Cooper Fister
• Arimitsu Horikawa-Strakovsky
• Jack Incorporated
• Luke Jones
• Aileen Khosravi
• Daniel Lee
• Chase Nurick
• Coleman Pence
• Nora Reichert
• Nikan Rosenau
• Ryan Sizemore
• Sophia Staples
• Alexander Staykov
• Andrew Sun
• Grace Sun
• Siddhi Viswanath
• Jenna Waldeck
• Anson Wang
• Maryam Zafar
• Anthony Zhang

High school juniors entered the 2025 competition by taking the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which serves as an initial screening. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than 1 percent of seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. Typically, about 95 percent of semifinalists advance in February, and about half of those finalists ultimately receive scholarships based on their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies. The winner announcements come in four waves from April through July, including awards for corporate-sponsored scholarships, $2,500 National Merit scholarships, and college-sponsored scholarships. The National Merit Scholarship Corp., businesses, and higher education institutions underwrite the awards.