The 2027 National Merit Semifinalists from Los Alamos High School include (back, left to right) Gavin Bent, Tate Plohr, Adis Bock, Hudson Bathrick-Price and Aditya Viswanathan; front (left to right) Liv Niklasson, Aislinn Marshall, Lydia Davis and Nguyen Phan. Photo Courtesy LAPS
LAPS NEWS RELEASE
Los Alamos Public Schools is pleased to announce that nine Los Alamos High School seniors have been named semifinalists in the 72nd annual National Merit Scholarship Program. This year’s semifinalists are Hudson Bathrick-Price, Gavin Bent, Adis Bock, Lydia Davis, Aislinn Marshall, Liv Niklasson, Nguyen Phan, Tate Plohr and Aditya Viswanathan.
National Merit Semifinalists and their families were honored at a luncheon on Wednesday. LAHS Principal Jill Gonzales told attendees that these students are among the top .5 percent in the state. “We are tremendously proud of our nine National Merit Semifinalists,” Principal Gonzales said. “Their hard work, determination, and pursuit of excellence exemplify the very best of our school community and inspire us all. We are grateful to the many teachers who have supported, encouraged, and guided these students throughout their educational journey.”
These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for about 6,700 National Merit Scholarships worth approximately $24 million that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. About 95 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and approximately half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title. NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by about 260 business organizations, higher education institutions, and individual donors that share NMSC’s goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.
Over 1.2 million juniors in about 20,000 high schools entered the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2025 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.
National Merit Scholarship winners of 2027 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join approximately 389,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.