The 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program announced 16,000 semifinalists from around the nation based on a qualifying exam, and 12 of those are Pearland ISD students.
Representing less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors, semifinalists will compete for more than 7,100 scholarships worth nearly $28 million.
Semifinalists included Pearland High student Brady Pierce, Turner High’s Thomas Lambert, Ian MacPhail and Kaytlynn Norman, and Dawson High students Hussein Elsaie, Hantao Jin, Sasha Kuzmenko, Shraddha Madhi, Benhamin Walsworth-Purkiss, Alexander Wright, Melinda Yao and Haoqi Zhang.