HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS CELEBRATES 70 NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP SEMIFINALISTS

Hillsborough County Public Schools

September 9, 2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tampa, Fla. – (September 9, 2026) – Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS) is proud to announce that 70 students from the district's traditional public high schools have been named Semifinalists in the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program, one of the nation's most prestigious academic recognition programs for high school students. The students were recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation based on their outstanding performance on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).

The National Merit Scholarship Program selected more than 16,000 semifinalists nationwide, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors. Approximately 95 percent of semifinalists are expected to advance to Finalist standing, with about half of those students ultimately earning a National Merit Scholarship.

2027 HCPS National Merit Semifinalists by school:

Strawberry Crest (17)

  • Komal R. Brahmankar

  • Christopher A. Dawson

  • Joseph Deepesh

  • Madison Fang

  • Neha N. Gowda

  • Nitya Hargewar

  • Hannah G. Kim

  • Aayush Mehta

  • Eshaan Roy

  • Harrison J. Shirey

  • Nitya L. Srikant

  • Alex Sun

  • Rhea Varma

  • Harshin S. Vemula

  • Ashrith Yeddula

  • Nathan C. Young

Middleton (13)

  • Parv R. Kothari

  • Kanu Lala

  • Andrew J. Logan

  • Sonum Mittal

  • Matthew F. Monteiro

  • Nivedha Narayanan

  • Saahil Nayar

  • Archit Pandey

  • Shreyas N. Penugonda

  • Harith Talapaneni

  • Andrew P. Thomas

  • Saicharan Vutukuri

  • Ronit H. Yeotikar

Steinbrenner (6)

  • Zaina S. Dubey

  • Denis Kurylev

  • Abhinav S. Muvva

  • Sydney G. Rayburn

  • Owen D. Schousboe

  • Hudson P. Thompson

King (6)

  • Stuart Dickinson

  • Amber B. Jiang

  • Jerry P. Lee

  • Frederick Li

  • Saisriharshe Sadineni

  • Satchel F. Puhr

  • Sheridan A. Yenter

Sickles (6)

  • Ishan Devpura

  • Vivaan Gupta

  • Saketh R. Kolla

  • Aarti Raghunathan

  • Kylie Tran

  • Camilo E. Utria-Salgado

Hillsborough (5)

  • Disha S. Abburi

  • Pranav Gadipathi

  • Nayana Jayakumar

  • Daniel M. Kim

  • Samantha L. Tinley

Plant (4)

  • Caitlin Q. Du

  • Jackson T. Fowler

  • Gabriel J. Kastner

  • Ian A. Pegler

Bloomingdale (3)

  • Jacob J. Abraham

  • Lawrence V. Derosier

  • Emerson J. Spencer

Robinson (3)

  • Lucia Borunda

  • John C. Joura

  • Atrina Zahedi

Alonso (2)

  • Alex L. Kohler

  • Havisha Mula

Plant City (2)

  • Westin T. Brooks

  • Simpa N. Oboro

Riverview (1)

  • Alexander E. Guirguis

Sumner (1)

  • Ayden M. Creech

Newsome (1)

  • Colin D. Holcombe

"Being named a National Merit Semifinalist places these students among the highest-achieving scholars in the nation and reflects years of hard work, dedication and academic excellence," said Superintendent Van Ayres. "We are incredibly proud of these students, their families, teachers and school communities. Their success demonstrates the outstanding opportunities available in our schools and the bright future ahead for each of these remarkable young people."

Semifinalists must now complete additional requirements, including a detailed scholarship application, academic record review, recommendation from a school official and qualifying SAT or ACT scores, to advance to Finalist standing. National Merit Scholarship winners will be announced beginning in spring 2027.

For a complete list of National Merit Scholarship Program semifinalists, visit National Merit Scholarship Corporation - Home.