Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is proud to announce that 49 students have been named 2027 National Merit Scholarship semifinalists, placing them among the nation’s highest-achieving high school seniors.

The recognition, awarded by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC®), is based on exceptional performance on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®). More than 1.2 million students entered the competition nationwide, with semifinalists representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools students named semifinalists are: 

Ardrey Kell High School
Agrawal, Aarav
Balusu, Abhinav M.
Behera, Ishidevesh
Dutt, Neel A.
Goenka, Darsh
Gokulkumar, Iniyan
Lee, Jayden
Maddipati, Rishi
Madsen, Mark D.
Mandal, Ishaan
Manepalli, Nikhith
Nadiminti, Mouktika A.
Repala, Tanav
Saraswatula, Kaavya
Sengupta, Anirudh
Vathanan, Ameya M.
Zamanifekri, Bardia
Zhao, Allison X.
 
Ballantyne Ridge High School 
Akula, Sahasra
BaoDai, Max S.
Barun, Anvitha
Bokam, Jai
Ramesh, Nandhana A.
Ruesch, Hunter T.
Ruesch, Lincoln J.
Runyan, Luke S.
Shyam, Johan T.
 
Charlotte Engineering Early College 
Keenan, Nathaniel P.
Shukhnov, Phillip A.
 
East Mecklenburg High School
Jenkins, Hayden G.
 
Myers Park High School 
Bouknight, Virginia B.
Gerrard, Scarlett G.
McCann, David W.
 
Providence High School 
Arun, Bhadra D.
Caslin, Adam D.
Chen, Chiaki T.
Gireesh, Neha
Gozycki, Connor M.
Hodgson, Connor T.
Jehac, Daniel
Kasuganti, Anika
Kim, Eddie
Pietrafesa, Jacob R.
Rengadurai, Harshitha
Valiveti, Mahi
Waddington, Edward W.
Wheeler, Kadin W.
 
South Mecklenburg High School 
Goldberg, Julia D.
Kleiderlein, Ava L.
 
These students will now advance in the competition for approximately 6,700 National Merit Scholarships worth about $24 million. Approximately 95 percent of semifinalists are expected to advance to finalist standing, and about half of those students will earn a National Merit Scholarship and the prestigious Merit Scholar® designation.

CMS congratulates these outstanding students, along with their families, teachers and school communities, on this remarkable achievement.