PLEASANT HILL, CA— Contra Costa County Superintendent of Schools Lynn Mackey proudly acknowledges 100 high school seniors who have been named Semifinalists in the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
“Congratulations to our outstanding National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists,” said Contra Costa County Superintendent of Schools Lynn Mackey. “Achieving Semifinal status is no small feat. The dedication, determination, and perseverance of these students have led them to this remarkable milestone. I also want to also recognize the invaluable support of their families, teachers, and school communities in fostering their success. We wish these scholars the best as they represent our county and move forward in the competition for National Merit Scholarships.”
Dougherty Valley High School in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District leads the county with 33 students earning Semifinalist honors. In total, 18 Contra Costa County high schools are represented among the over 16,000 Semifinalists nationwide.
The schools with Semifinalists include Dougherty Valley (33), California (12), Monte Vista (11), Campolindo (9), Bentley (7), Miramonte (7), and Acalanes (5). Northgate High School has three Semifinalists. Athenian, El Cerrito, and Las Lomas high schools each have two Semifinalists. Meanwhile, Antioch, Liberty, Carondelet, San Ramon Valley, Alhambra, Berean Christian, and Contra Costa Christian high schools all have one Semifinalist.
These exceptional seniors will now advance in the competition for approximately 6,870 National Merit Scholarships, collectively valued at $26 million, which will be awarded next spring. To qualify for a Merit Scholarship, Semifinalists must meet specific criteria to progress to the Finalist stage. It is anticipated that about 95% of Semifinalists will achieve Finalist standing, and around half of those Finalists will be selected as National Merit Scholars, earning this prestigious title.
Over 1.3 million high school juniors across 21,000 schools entered the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®). Semifinalists represent less than one percent of U.S. seniors, marking the highest scorers in each state. National Merit Scholarship winners for 2025 will be announced between April and July.
For more information on the National Merit Scholarship Program, visit www.nationalmerit.org.
CONTRA COSTA COUNTY NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP SEMIFINALISTS
ACALANES HIGH SCHOOL – 5
- Garcia, Zachary J.
- Hoeberechts, Kaya Y.
- Johnson, Julia H.
- Ristow, Carsten L.
- Yoshinaka, Jake M.
ALHAMBRA HIGH SCHOOL – 1
- Kaur, Jaap
ANTIOCH HIGH SCHOOL – 1
- Gregson, Zack M.
ATHENIAN SCHOOL – 2
- Molitor, Garrett M.
- Solomon, Michael J.
BENTLEY SCHOOL – 7
- Chiang, Clifton
- Friedrichs, Olivia
- Peterson, Robert
- Ragins, Rachel
- Tao, Wilson
- Walzer, Joseph
- Weiss, Theodore
BEREAN CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL – 1
- Trebotich, Annabelle
CARONDELET HIGH SCHOOL – 1
- Macri, Alexandra L.
CALIFORNIA HIGH SCHOOL -12
- Cheung, Meghan G.
- Chu, Isaac L.
- Griffin, Callan B.
- Li, Mengze
- Li, William Y.
- Liang, Kadon O.
- Nayak, Sahil S.
- Piggott IV, William T.
- Rudrakshi, Naman S.
- Srinivasan, Amritha
- Thippavajjula, Srikar
- Zhao, Cindy Y.
CAMPOLINDO HIGH SCHOOL – 9
- Baker, Clare
- Chen, Anna
- Cheung, Chloe
- Chugh, Dilon
- Dong, Andrew
- Jia, Marilyn
- Liao, Grace
- Pawlik-Zwiebel, Ariel
- Yu, Chang
CONTRA COSTA CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL – 1
- Victorio, Andrew
DOUGHERTY VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL – 33
- Agarwal, Prisha
- Agrawal, Aryan
- Bhaskara, Aditya
- Bian, Hunter
- Challa, Varun
- Chandrasekhar, Aditya
- Chen, Josiah
- De, Aarush
- Krishna, Adithya M.
- Kumar, Vainavi
- Lee, Jayden D.
- Malani, Rohan V.
- Mehrotra, Khushi
- Mei, Andy L.
- Mishra, Plaban
- Nadhan, Pallavi
- Naidu, Nirav M.
- Narayan, Aditya
- Park, Aiden D.
- Park, Sejun
- Pham, Michael K.
- Rajkumar, Shalini S.
- Sandadi, Rohit
- Shen, Katherine X.
- Wang, Joy
- Wang, Joyce
- Wang, Justin
- Wei, Hongyi
- Wu, Joyce C.
- Xu, Victoria C.
- Zhang, Joshua Z.
- Zhang, Timothy Y.
- Zhao, William J.
EL CERRITO – 2
- Arkin, Oliver M.
- Seo, Daniel J.
LIBERTY HIGH SCHOOL – 1
- Cabrera, Phoenix E.
LOS LOMAS HIGH SCHOOL – 2
- Raphael, Seth
- Sivakumaran Thangaraj, Harrshwin
MIRAMONTE HIGH SCHOOL – 7
- Anderson, William
- Crisologo, Jacob
- Hagendoorn, Logan
- Rguem, Preston
- Rivera-Gu, Abigail
- Wong, Chase
- Wong, Emma
MONTE VISTA HIGH SCHOOL – 11
- Atkinson, Kalen J.
- Bijlani, Trisha
- Cao, Stephanie Y.
- Chao, Rex S.
- Dolan, Liam K.
- Ferman, Emre
- Fernandez, Sofia F.
- Gandhi, Arshia
- Kabbarah, Bashar
- Kayari, Amanda E.
- Kuwahara, Callen M.
NORTHGATE – 3
- Burenko, Mark
- Mitchell, Sophia
- Shen, Anthony
SAN RAMON VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL – 1
- Luo, Nicholas H.
About Contra Costa County Office of Education
One of 58 counties in California, Contra Costa County (CCCOE) has the 11th largest public-school student population in the state (approximately 169,225 students). Officially established in 1932, CCCOE has a long history of providing direct services to some of our county’s most vulnerable students, including young people who are incarcerated, homeless, or in foster care, as well as students who have severe physical or emotional challenges.
CCCOE also provides support services to schools and school districts in Contra Costa County; services that can be handled most effectively and economically on a regional basis rather than by each of the county’s 286 schools or 18 school districts. These services range from budget approval and fiscal support to technology infrastructure, communication support, and high-level professional development opportunities for educators. CCCOE maintains a website at www.cocoschools.org.
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