About 16,000 high school students in the graduating class of 2026 — less than 1% of U.S. seniors — were named semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program.

Related Articles

The semifinalists, announced on Sept. 10, qualified based on their scores on the Preliminary SAT. About 95 percent are expected to attain finalist standing on the strength of an application detailing academic performance, participation in activities, employment and leadership.

About half the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, to be announced in the spring.

Below are the semifinalists from the Bay Area, listed alphabetically by city (in bold) and high school.

ALAMEDA

ALAMEDA H. S. • Lee, Yu Jie

ENCINAL H. S. • Munkhtur, Michelle • Nguyen, Nicholas

ST. JOSEPH – NOTRE DAME H. S. • F

See Full Page