They have been named semifinalists in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship program. Included among them were 14 students from Butler County and 25 from Warren County.
“We are incredibly proud of Harry, Gillian, and Nathan for being named National Merit Semifinalists,” said Brian Martin, Ross High School principal.
“This recognition reflects not only their academic talent and hard work, but also the support and encouragement of their families, teachers, and the entire Ross community. Their success is a shining example of the excellence we strive for at Ross High School, and we know they will continue to accomplish great things.”
Less than one percent of the nation’s seniors were named semifinalists based on their scores on the 2024 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying test taken as juniors.
More than 1.3 million students from 20,000 high schools took the exam, with 16,000 being named semifinalists.
About 15,000 of those will be named finalists in February, qualifying them for $2,500 National Merit and other scholarships from businesses and colleges/universities. Altogether, 6,930 scholarships worth nearly $26 million will be offered to students.
“Mason High School is incredibly proud of these students. Their impressive scores reflect their hard work and commitment to learning, but what truly sets them apart is the way they lead - in our classrooms, on our teams, on stage, and in service to our community,” said Ben Brown, Mason High School principal.
“We can’t wait to see all that they will accomplish on their journeys ahead.”
Scholarship winners will be announced in four releases between April and July of next year.
This year’s semifinalists from Butler and Warren counties, by school, are:
Butler County
Badin: Matthew Lees
Hamilton: Madeline Wagonfield
Lakota East: Isaac Baumgarte, Aaron McClain, Reilly Meyer, Logan Nagel, Tucker Steinbrink
Lakota West: Colin Conner, Bonny Kirkmeyer, Alex Rivera
Ross: Harrison Moeller, Gillian Pater, Nathan Sommers
Talawanda: Nolan Hodgson
Warren County
Kings: Bennett Aston
Mason: Krishi Agarwal, Imran Akbar, Kris Bodkhe, Mikhail Devassy, Adhya Duggal, Marley Feng, Anamitra Gotike, Sanvi Jha, Lex Jung, Annie Li, Varsha Mohan, Gabriel Oyekunle, Ian Shang, Desika Shyam Sundar, Sahana Srikanth, Ethan Tu, Vishista Vulpala, Riley Wen, Kyle Yan, Keyur Yathavakilla
Springboro: Morgan Demoss, Graham Kaskey, Claire Letavec, Aaron Thomas
About the Author