Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS) announced Thursday that 19 students were named 2025 National Merit Scholarship program finalists.

Approximately 1.3 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. Fewer than 1% of the current high school seniors were named finalists.

To achieve finalist status, students must submit applications that feature their awards, honors earned, other academic achievements, leadership activities, teacher recommendations and an essay.

“To have so many finalists in a district this size is an amazing accomplishment,” said ACPS Superintendent Dr. Kamela Patton in a press release. “It’s a great tribute to their teachers, their families and most importantly, to the students themselves, who have worked so hard to earn this recognition.”

The ACPS finalists in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship program are:

Buchholz High School: Charles Austin, Andrew Caruso, Stuart Ding, Adrian Palamarev and Emily Zhou.

Eastside High School: Joyce Huang, Yihan Wang, Chloe Zheng and Kyle Ziegler.

Gainesville High School: Elizabeth Chapman, Nathan Collier, Ava Fuller, Yoo-Min Koh, Kareem Meinel, Charlotte Shea, Aiden Swallow, William Thomas, Kallum Wang and Mathilde Wuthrich.