79% of Frazer School seniors designated as National Merit Semifinalists

Press release from the Frazer School

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Eleven students from The Frazer School in Gainesville have been named Semifinalists for the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program; at 79% of the senior class, this sets a new record for the school.

More than 1.2 million juniors entered the 2027 NMS program by completing the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) last October. Just over 16,000 students earned semifinalist status based on their test scores. This nationwide pool of approximately 16,000 National Merit Semifinalists constitutes less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors. Students in Florida needed to have an index score of 216 or higher out of 228 to be a semifinalist. The Semifinalists will have the opportunity to earn Finalist status by submitting a detailed scholarship application. In order to become a Finalist, students must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school and earn SAT or ACT scores consistent with their earlier performance on the qualifying test.

The 11 Frazer School semifinalists are: Xi Chen, Eric Gao, Sylvia Guo, Connor Guthrie, Watson Inglett, Westin Martin, Abhiram Pothuri, Keaton Smith, Yifan Song, Jessica Wu, and Jerry Yao. They will be notified in February if they have earned the designation of Finalist. All Finalists will then continue in the competition for approximately 6700 National Merit Scholarships worth approximately $24 million that will be offered in the Spring.

“I am extremely proud of our teachers who taught these students, and the students themselves, for this great recognition. Eleven students is our record, and to have 79% of our seniors qualify as Semifinalists is amazing. This might be a record we never break,” said Frazer School Principal Dr. O. Fayiga

National Merit Scholarship Corporation, a not-for-profit organization, was established in 1955 to conduct the National Merit Scholarship Program with the goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.