News release
The William S. Hart Union High School District announced that 13 local high school seniors have been named semifinalists in the 72nd annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
“These exceptional students have demonstrated remarkable academic achievement and potential, placing them among the highest-scoring high school seniors in California and the nation,” the district said in a news release.
The National Merit Scholarship Program is a competitive academic competition that honors some of the nation’s most promising students. To qualify as a semifinalist, these students earned top scores on the 2025 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), representing less than 1% of high school seniors nationwide.
The 2027 National Merit Semifinalists from the William S. Hart Union High School District are:
• Colton Fernandez, West Ranch High School.
• Avantika Jangeesh, Academy of the Canyons.
• Jean Kim, Valencia High School.
• Jun Kim, West Ranch High School.
• Madison Lee, West Ranch High School.
• David Mun, West Ranch High School.
• Thanya Rajesh, Academy of the Canyons.
• Adhvika Ram, West Ranch High School.
• Jacob Rim, West Ranch High School.
• Evan Sanders, Saugus High School.
• Ajay Saravanan, West Ranch High School.
• Sricharan Vagvala, Academy of the Canyons.
• Yimeng Yuan, West Ranch High School.
“We are incredibly proud of these 13 students for their dedication to academic excellence,” Superintendent Michael Vierra said in the release. “This achievement is a recognition of their hard work, talent, and the commitment of their teachers, families, and the entire school community.”
To advance to the Finalist level, Semifinalists must fulfill several additional requirements, including maintaining a strong high school academic record, submitting a detailed scholarship application, writing an essay, providing information regarding their extracurricular activities and community involvement, and receiving a recommendation from a high school official. Approximately 95% of Semifinalists achieve Finalist standing.
Finalists will be notified in February 2027 and will go on to compete for thousands of National Merit Scholarships awarded in the spring.
