Central, Northridge Students Named National Merit Semifinalists

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Five Tuscaloosa City Schools (TCS) seniors have been named semifinalists in the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program.

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Jefferson Morris of Central High School and Adipta Gupta, Annalise Hammond, Adam Song and Ariq Isyraq of Northridge High School earned the distinction based on their performance on the 2025 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

TCS says more than 1.2 million students from roughly 20,000 high schools entered the 2027 competition, with more than 16,000 selected as semifinalists.

Those students now have an opportunity to advance to finalist status and compete for approximately 6,700 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $24 million.

About 95% of semifinalists are expected to become finalists.

For Morris, the recognition could help him pursue his goal of becoming an aerospace engineer and eventually working for NASA.

"I'm pretty happy about it," Morris said. "I'd like to get what I can in terms of scholarships, and apparently, this is a big one."

Morris said a math teacher encouraged him to take the test. He plans to study engineering, potentially at the University of Alabama and later the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

"Central's been a great experience in my life," Morris said. "I'm very proud of it."

At Northridge, Gupta said he put significant effort into preparing for the test and hopes the recognition could help ease the financial burden of college.

His older brother also earned National Merit recognition as a TCS student.

Gupta credited his coursework and the opportunity to take the PSAT as a sophomore with helping prepare him for the exam.

"A lot of the English reading and writing skills that I learned, and all the problem-solving skills in general that I used on this test, a lot of that was facilitated by the coursework and concepts that I learned in the classes that I had been taking," Gupta said.

He plans to study computer science, data science, statistics or a related field.

Hammond said having four semifinalists from Northridge reflects both the students' efforts and the academic opportunities available at the school.

"It's so exciting," Hammond said. "I really feel like this opportunity that was afforded to me and these other Northridge students is just really amazing, and it really shows the great academics that we have here at Northridge and the effort that we all put into it."

Hammond, who plans to major in environmental engineering and minor in a field related to policy or international relations, credited honors, Advanced Placement and dual enrollment courses with helping prepare her.

Song said becoming a semifinalist reflects years of academic work rather than preparation for a single exam.

"It's nice to see all my hard work pay off," Song said. "Of course, I did study. I studied a lot, but a lot of the work comes from even years prior to it."

Song said his involvement in Key Club helped develop his interest in service and influenced his decision to study public policy.

"I just wanted to be able to do something impactful with my life and help other people," Song said.

Isyraq credited his family, teachers and opportunities through TCS with helping him earn the recognition.

"It feels pretty great," Isyraq said. "It's truly an honor to get this type of recognition, and I think it really opens the door to a lot of opportunities."

He also pointed to the range of opportunities available to students in the school system, including athletics, academics and the arts.

National Merit finalists are expected to be announced in February, with scholarship winners announced beginning in the spring.

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