19 From Brentwood, 17 From Ravenwood Part of Record-Setting Crop of National Merit Semifinalists

BRENTWOOD, TN — Brentwood High School has the most National Merit Semifinalists in the state with 19 and Ravenwood High wasn't far behind with 17 of its own.

All told, Williamson County Schools had 50 National Merit Semifinalists, a record number for the district, despite the score requirement on the PSAT qualifying test being higher than it has been in almost 20 years.

Semifinalists are determined based on the score on the PSAT, which is typically taken during the sophomore or junior year. Of the 1.5 million who entered the program, 16,000 were named as semifinalists. Finalists are determined based on the student's broader academic record, school involvement, leadership activity and other honors. Finalists are announced in February.

The Brentwood High semifinalists are Zurie Adams, Andrew Brown, Shirley Cai, Sarah Dillender, Matthew Donahue, Abigail Ezell, Riley Graves, Joseph Gripenstraw, Brooke Horesh, Chirag Kaushik, Arjun Keerthi, Sophie Khomtchenko, Sheryas Kumar, Justin Lambright, Aleya Prasad, Alexander Qin, Richard Sheng, Harry Westbrook and Emma Young.

The Ravenwood semifinalists are Emily Berexa, Jared Boggs, Kurt Erickson, Garret Foran, Cailyn Goodbred, Theodore Grosson, Preston Johnston, Young-Rae Kim, Ashley Klee, Adriana Kurowski, Jerry Lu, Jessica Mixon, Daniel Nicastro, Alyssa Parker, Alexandra Plukis, Kathryn Rigsby and Dalton Shaub.

Here's the rest of the WCS semifinalists:

• Centennial High: David Price and Daniel Seifferth
• Franklin High: Michael Albert, Tian Geng, Kelli Kee, Caleb Patrick and James Robinson
• Independence High: Harold LaCroix, Liam Spoletini, Evelyn Teeple, William Waring and Evelyn Williams
• Page High: Hunter Spivey and Olivia Snow

In addition, home-school student Yohanan Nekrasov, who home schools under the umbrella of HomeLife Academy, was named a National Merit Semifinalist.