San Francisco's 2023 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — The National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced the names of over 16,000 semifinalists in the 68th annual National Merit Scholarship Program, including 38 students in San Francisco. Fewer than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors are chosen as semifinalists in the prestigious competition.

The students are competing for 7,250 scholarships worth nearly $28 million to be awarded in multiple rounds next spring and summer.

These semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition. About 95 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and about half of them will go on to win a National Merit Scholarship.

The next step for the semifinalists and their schools is to submit a detailed scholarship application that includes their academic records, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards they've received. The student must also earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm their earlier performance on the qualifying test.

The scholarships are underwritten by National Merit's own funds and by approximately 340 business organizations, colleges and universities.

Semifinalists entered the competition as juniors by taking the 2021 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen for entrants. The number of semifinalists in each state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

Finalists will be notified in February.

Here is a list of San Francisco's semifinalists:

Convent of the Sacred Heart High School

Falconer, Peyton
Kramer, Makenna

Stuart Hall High School

Nie, Christopher
Schiller, Zachary

Lick-Wilmerding High School

Baik, Adrianne Y.
Maltz, Amelia A.
McLister, Kai D.
Steele, Cara E.

Lowell High School

Andrade, Willa
Chen, Joshua
Donchenko, Victor M.
Huang, Grace
Lee, Ryan H.
Leung, Jonathan J.
Rui, Yuxi
Sorenson, Alexandria M.
Takamoto, Alexander K.
Wang, Katie A.
Wang, Yifan

Lycee Francais

De Belloy, Madeleine R.

Proof School

Brower, Joshua E.
Gish, Jackson F.
Hua, Kailey
Johnston, Anna M.
Lindquist, Thomas N.
Puckett, Carter J.
Raghavan, Dhruv R.
To, Michelle

Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory

Alves, Mateo A.
Bourque, Baxter M.
Simpson, Matthew S.
Zhao, Alivia

San Francisco University High School

Mann, Victoria E.
Vari, Katharine M.
Woeber, Thomas A.

St. Ignatius College Preparatory School

Moe, Jackson J.
Quach, Jack C.

Urban School

Kao, Caroline T.