Nineteen ACPS students named as National Merit finalists

Press release from Alachua County Public Schools

ALACHUA COUNTY, Fla. – Nineteen Alachua County Public Schools students have been named finalists in the prestigious National Merit Scholarship program this year, an achievement earned by fewer than 1% of current high school seniors.

About 1.3 million students took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test as juniors during the last school year, with 16,000 earning semifinalist status based on their performance on that exam.

To become finalists, those students had to submit applications highlighting their other academic achievements, awards and honors earned, leadership activities, teacher recommendations, and an essay.

“To have so many finalists in a district this size is an amazing accomplishment,” said Superintendent Dr. Kamela Patton. “It’s a great tribute to their teachers, their families, and most importantly, to the students themselves, who have worked so hard to earn this recognition.”

The ACPS finalists in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship program are:

Buchholz High School: Charles Austin, Andrew Caruso, Stuart Ding, Adrian Palamarev, and Emily Zhou.

Eastside High School: Joyce Huang, Yihan Wang, Chloe Zheng, and Kyle Ziegler.

Gainesville High School: Elizabeth Chapman, Nathan Collier, Ava Fuller, Yoo-Min Koh, Kareem Meinel, Charlotte Shea, Aiden Swallow, William Thomas, Kallum Wang, and Mathilde Wuthrich.