More than 16,000 brainy and high-achieving students made the list of National Merit Scholar semifinalists, and 144 Arkansans are among them.

The list, released today, represents less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors. These semifinalists can apply to become finalists, which will bring them another step closer to being named Merit Scholars, an honor that comes with financial awards to help them fund their higher education pursuits. Winners will be announced beginning in April.

It’s a big deal!

Without further ado, here’s the list!

ALMA

Alma High School

Holsted, Blake

BATESVILLE

Batesville High School

Ho, Mai Lan T.

BENTONVILLE

Bentonville High School

Ala, Akshay

Devineni, Avinash

Engstrom, Cami E.

Gorshe, Renatte R.

Hatch, McKay W.

Lim, William S.

Narasimhan, Manvitha

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