Over 100 Katy ISD Students Named 2026 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists
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KATY MAGAZINE NEWS
October 28, 2025
By Natalie Cook Clark
At last night’s regularly scheduled Katy ISD Board of Trustees meeting over 100 students were honored for earning the prestigious distinction of being named 2026 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
Over 100 Katy ISD students were honored at last night’s School Board meeting for earning the prestigious distinction of being named 2026 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
“These remarkable students embody the hard work and dedication of our Katy ISD students,” says Assistant Superintendent for School Leadership & Support Emily Craig. “This accomplishment reflects their commitment to academic excellence and the unwavering commitment of their families, teachers and school communities.”
More than 1.3 million juniors across the nation entered the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2024 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®). From that group, the highest-scoring students in each state were named Semifinalists. These students are now eligible to compete for more than 6,000 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million.
The District recognized this year’s National Merit Semifinalists during a special reception where administrators from six Katy ISD high schools presented certificates of achievement on behalf of the Board of Trustees.
Katy ISD 2026 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists
Cinco Ranch High School
(See opening picture)
Andrew Xia
Reed Whisenant
Alexander Park
Nathan Olivier
Ivan La
Alyssa Jiang
Elyssa Hung
Ryan Gover
Lucille Ebben
George Rhoades
Enze Yu
Sumanth Sivakumar
Rikin Singhvi
Jay Sahni
Emma Chung
Muhammad Daniyal Salman
Ian Kim
Riya Sharma
Aimee Xia
Johan Jacob
Grace Dong
Ian Choi
Christian Hough
Kyle Nguyen
Jordan High School
Caleb Albers
Suchay Kommisetty
Pranav Ramji
Eric Yang
Murugan Jagan
Adleigh Krile
Truman Sun
Anitra Sen
Maggie Yang
Andrea Lopez
Saira Narang
Rishan Hemrajani
Michael Wang
Nathan Xu
Rohan Kishore
Katy High School
Dante Balacchi
Spencer Gernale
Mayde Creek High School
Jamie Klander
Seven Lakes High School
Aarjav Desai
Isaac Park
Veronica Zhu
Annie Zhou
Raina Zhang
Philip Zhang
Michelle Zhang
Merissa Zhang
Eric Zhang
Ken Woodward
Rohanna White
Matthew Tsang
Erica Zhang
An Truong
Aarushi Thatola
Aman Singh
Shailesh Satewar
Urmi Sarkar
Christopher Ou
Terynce Nguyen
Vedant Mohan
Sarah Lee
Aarush Kudariya
Maimunah Kausar
Rahid Ismail
Jarrett Hutto
Aditya Hariprasad
Samir Gandhi
Amaan Faisal
Xinyue Dong
Saumya Dharap
Emmanuelle Chern
Ailsa Cheng
Sherry Chen
Autumn Brown
Brandon Rui
Hanyu Song
Svend Rydahl
Ban Mai Nguyen
Komal Maniar
Brian Lu
Rosie Li
Annie Li
Ruiyang Huang
Daniel Deng
Taylor High School
Nitya Bhargava
Joseph Cooper
Travis Feng
Abhishree Gupta
Damon Hong
Timothy Hong
Daniel Kim
Alex Kwon
Jacob Ma
Sheryl Surawijaya
Sophia Tang
Ella Wang
Tompkins High School
Racheet Bedi
Arjun Chandupatla
Timothy Chau
Evelyn Chen
Gaoyu Chen
Haofei Deng
Grace Ding
Ryan Du
Jooni Hwang
Joshua Joiner
Abhinav Kanchupatla
Shreyas Kini
Vaishnav Krishnan
Sai Pavan Kukkadapu
Elvin Li
Ryan Lin
Sean Lu
Aahana Rao
Benjamin Van Strien
Faizan Zameer
To advance to finalist standing, semifinalists must submit a detailed scholarship application highlighting their academic record, participation in school and community activities, leadership experience, employment and honors. They must also submit SAT or ACT scores and an essay.
From the staff at Katy Magazine, congratulations to all of these students.