By Star-Advertiser Staff
Copyright staradvertiser
A total of 60 Hawaii high school seniors have been named 2026 National Merit Scholarship semifinalists, placing them among over 16,000 high-scoring students nationally who will be eligible for nearly $26 million in scholarships to be offered next spring.
The Hawaii seniors come from 12 high schools, according to the nonprofit National Merit Scholarship Corp. (NMSC), which announced the semifinalists earlier this month.
NMSC officials said over 1.3 million juniors in about 20,000 high schools entered the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2024 Preliminary SAT/ National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test last fall.
This year’s over 16,000 national semifinalists represent less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors, including the highest-scoring entrants in each state, NMSC officials said in a news release.
Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level next spring, including completing a detailed application and writing an essay.
NMSC officials said well over 90% of the semifinalists are expected to become finalists, which will make them eligible for three types of National Merit Scholarships being offered in the spring. The scholarship types include 2,500 National Merit $2,500 Scholarships; about 830 corporate- sponsored Merit Scholarship awards from about 150 corporations and business organizations; and about 3,600 college–sponsored Merit Scholarship awards from roughly 150 colleges and universities for finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.
SCHOLARSHIP HOPEFULS
This year’s Hawaii semifinalists and their high schools are:
Campbell High
Aydan Calloway
Malakai Seay
Waiakea High
Tyler T. Ha
Raiyan S. Rahman
‘Iolani School
Jacob Chien
Ashlyn A. Ito
Noah J. Koike Smith
Brandon B. Koo
Kai H. Kuboi
Apollo J. Lee
Matthew Lee
Royce J. Lee
Alton J. Matsuda
Ya Ni M. Ng
Jacob S. Osada
Yoonseo Park
Oliver B. Physioc-Fox
Mingeon Shin
Taeseong Shin
Arabella V. Tan
Andrew M. Vo
Ichiro I. Yeh
Mengyuan Zhao
Kalani High
Kamehameha Schools — Kapalama
Melekailialoha Moriwake
Jackson Savala
Reese Takahashi
Moanalua High
Catherine O’Connor
Punahou School
Sophie Y. Chan
Nathaniel P. Chisholm
Ella M. Dang
Pierce M. Davis
Mari E. Dela Cruz
Sophia H. Foster
Kaleo A. Hayase
Ethan M. Kim
Albert Y. Ko
Allison T. Lin
Isabella Y. Liu
Cayden S. Matsuoka
Charles W. Padwe
Alicia R.Pearson
Haohong Ren
Max V. Shinno
Kamailelauli‘i E. Shultz
Jordan T. Takai
Mallory J. Watanabe
Tyler C. Wee
Alexander W. Woo
Nathan L. Yu
Roosevelt High
Jason Longacre
Hawaii Prepatory Academy
Tiffany Ravaglia
Nehali Singh
Seabury Hall
Mililani High
Reid Tamanaha
Pearl City High
Mia Ha Rozewski
