The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) recently announced the names of 15 more Alachua County Public School (ACPS) 2024 graduates who earned scholarships this year. 

NMSC has now recognized 21 ACPS students this year, and more are expected to be announced with the final list of scholarship winners to come in July. 

In the fall, 35 ACPS students qualified as NMSC semifinalists, including three students who earned top scores on the exam. NMSC named 34 ACPS students as finalists in February. 

ACPS’s National Merit Scholars this year so far include: 

Melissa Li, Richard Feng, Sarah Rodkin, Laurie Wang, Emmanuel Zheng, Megan Chen, Nolan Gao, Max Kaplan, Edison Loftus, Warren Pfund, and Billy Yang from Buchholz High School; Isaac Savin, Shravya Mandava, August McDaniel and Noah Siegel from Eastside High School; Maheer Bansari, Peter Blay, Kyle Choe, Elle Guin, and Katelinn Kochtan from Gainesville High School. 

“We are so proud of what these students accomplished as students in our district,” Superintendent Shane Andrew said in a press release. “Their success is a tribute to their hard work and to the support of their families, teachers and schools, and we know they will pay it forward and go on to achieve great things in college and beyond.” 

NMSC winners are chosen from the pool of finalists, based on their Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) scores, academic records and contributions to leadership in school and communities, as well as an essay and a recommendation. 

The finalists are eligible to win $2,500 National Merit Scholarships, funded either by NMSC, corporate sponsors or college sponsors. 

The college-sponsored Merit Scholarships were announced on Wednesday, including ACPS’s 15 students. One other local student was chosen for a corporate-sponsored scholarship, and five received National Merit Scholarships.