WEST CHESTER, PA — Ninety students from Conestoga High School, the Downingtown Area School District, West Chester-area schools and Bishop Shanahan High School have been named semifinalists in the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program, placing them among a nationwide group representing less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors.
Conestoga High School produced the largest contingent among the local announcements, with 41 semifinalists. Downingtown Area School District reported 32 students across its three high schools, while 14 students were identified from West Chester-area schools and three from Bishop Shanahan High School.
More than 16,000 students nationwide were selected as semifinalists in the 72nd annual competition. More than 15,000 are expected to advance to finalist status, with scholarship recipients ultimately chosen from that group.
Students entered the competition through the 2025 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test taken during their junior year. Advancement requires semifinalists to meet additional academic and application requirements, including maintaining a strong high school record, receiving a school recommendation, completing an essay and submitting qualifying SAT or ACT scores.
Conestoga High School in the Tredyffrin/Easttown School District had 41 semifinalists: Advay Agrawal, William R. Akins, Kamya Benakanakere, Alvin L. Chen, Jackson E. Corbett, Ashley X. Du, Chenling Feng, David S. Feng, Mithra S. Fernando, Katherine A. Gennarelli, Lola W. Huang, Yashvi Amitkumar Jain, Wenting Ji, Calvin S. Kan, Ayanka Kudalugodaarachchi, Aarush Kumar, Jessica Y. Li, Paul Z. Martin, Nuha Maryam and Rohit S. Matam.
The Conestoga group also includes Wesley L. McDonald, Krish E. Mudaliar, Issaam I. Mussani, Ramiz I. Mussani, Amvi A. Patel, Yuvan K. Putumbaka, Sophia J. Rohe, Prajit Sikder, Shrihan Sivaraman, Ethan D. Sun, Keiji Uehara, Vishruth Vignesh, Emily S. Wang, Kimberly Y. Wang, Alexandra Wieser, Andy Wu, Sophia Z. Wu, Danyan Yang, Dan Zhao, Gavin Z. Zhao and Tina Zhong.
Downingtown Area School District’s 32 semifinalists span Downingtown High School East, Downingtown High School West and Downingtown STEM Academy.
Downingtown East’s semifinalists are Sana Barige, Gautham Sai Reddy Chinna Narasappa Gari, Saanvi P. Devabhakthuni, Atharva Doke, Advaith Elluru, Tejas Karusala, Rishika Kurma, Aadi Kurukunda, Ahaan Nigam, Sophia L. Pan, Supreeth Siddani, Anoushka Soni, Nihal P. Thakkar and Nithya M. Vanacharla.
Downingtown West students James L. Kerwin and Saran Sukla Yerrapatruni also reached the semifinalist stage.
Downingtown STEM Academy’s semifinalists are Shauna Jain, Diya Kondoor, Vyom Krothapalli, Hannah Luo, Arav Mehta, Harivighnesh Nagaraj, Sejal Padhy, Shreyan Potdar, Neel Solanki, Shreyaj Vadla, Siri Vobilisetty, Saisubbarayudu Vytla, Ojas Wani, Sukriti Yadav, Tongye Yang and Zoe Zhang.
Fourteen students were reported from West Chester-area schools. Seven attend B. Reed Henderson High School: Ethan P. Bowser, Seamu Christoff, Audrey W. Fisher, Cerys J. Jones, ViJay V. Nair, Shrey G. Shah and Anvi Verma.
Christian J. Miller and Liam J. Swett attend Bayard Rustin High School, while Pranoy D. Muthaiyan attends West Chester East High School.
Four additional semifinalists attend Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School: Nathaniel Lord, John Walish, Ethan Wei and Jacob Widmann.
Bishop Shanahan High School in Downingtown reported three senior semifinalists: Lila Melcher, Minh Pham and Clare Voss.
The semifinalist designation begins the next stage of the National Merit competition, with students now eligible to pursue finalist status and consideration for scholarships.
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