![PHS's National Merit Semifinalists stand in front of the PHS building. Adithri Raghuram, Arnav Bhute, Dylan Lyon, Emily Zhang, Janani Sridhar, Katie Lee, Kenna Boyd, Khyati Khanderao, Krish Hariharan, Lakshya Meiyappan, Meher Lahiri Gudipati, Murtaza Siddiqui, Om Gaddad and Tejas Paleti qualified for the Semifinalists due to their substantial scores during the PSAT/NMSQT test and are on their way to become finalists. "I believe we find out [the finalists] in February,” senior Meher Lahiri Gudipati said. “So I guess we're just looking forward to it."](https://eaglenationonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/national-merit-1200x800.webp)
The students of PHS took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) on Oct. 8 during the 71st annual National Merit Scholarship Program to compete for $26 million in scholarships. 14 PHS students were able to qualify for the National Merit Semifinalists of the 24 students in the entire school district, and of only about 16,000 students of the 1.3 million senior students in the entire U.S.. That’s less than 1% of students that have qualified.
The 14 students of PHS who have qualified include: Adithri Raghuram, Arnav Bhute, Dylan Lyon, Emily Zhang, Janani Sridhar, Katie Lee, Kenna Boyd, Khyati Khanderao, Krish Hariharan, Lakshya Meiyappan, Meher Lahiri Gudipati, Murtaza Siddiqui, Om Gaddad and Tejas Paleti.
Most of the semifinalists listed were not only excited about qualifying, but some were also surprised of being qualified.
“[I was] definitely very excited, very happy about the results.” Zhang said. “I was pretty surprised too, because I didn’t expect to get it.”
Senior Adithri Raghuram has similar feelings about qualifying for semifinalists.
“I was also really happy and excited like Emily said.” Raghuram said. “I remember when I checked my score, I was with my parents and they were also really proud, so that was a really wholesome moment.”
After students qualify for the semifinals, they must fill out an application, which uneases some students that they may or may not qualify. The finalists are not revealed until months after.
Other students who have qualified were prepared for the test and were unsurprised with the results.
“I know a lot of people kind of accidentally scored really high,” Boyd said. “I knew I was in the running for the National Merit Semifinalists, so I actually studied a lot for the PSAT. I was actually pretty proud of myself when I made semifinalist.”
Most semifinalists have already made plans with their potential scholarship and their futures in colleges.
“If I do get a scholarship from the program, I will be super grateful,” Khanderao said. “Most likely I would probably utilize that scholarship towards an eight year program.”
Like Khanderao, Paleti hopes to use the scholarship to chase a better education.
“I am applying to a lot of top engineering schools because I want to pursue engineering,” Paleti said. “I hope to be able to use that scholarship to help with my college funding and hopefully go to some of the better schools and pursue a better education.”
The semifinalists’ academic achievements right now will only assist them with greater education the future. Next year is another opportunity for the highest achieving students of PHS to show their success.
This article was edited by Kate Duncan, Palak Agarwalla and Emily Logan.
![Looking at one of her students as they speak, Delaney Alford sits next to freshman Saanvi Vipin during their Hope Squad period. During this class, the group played the game ‘imposter’ to bond. “I think Hope Squad is such a good class and such a good program to not only teach [mental health awareness] to the kids that are in the class, but also to push that out to any and everybody else,” Alford said. “What better way for people to hear about it than from their peers?”](https://eaglenationonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/IMG_0008-1-1200x800.jpeg)
