Eight CCSD Seniors Named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists

Eight Cherokee County School District high school seniors today were named 2026 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists!

They are: of Cherokee High School, Grace Dai, Andrew Lockwood, and Ian Zeller; of Creekview High School, Levi Cone and Aiden Johnson; of Etowah High School, Dylan Fallin; and of Sequoyah High School, Matthew Chemmala, and Riley O'Neill.  Congratulations to our honored students and their teachers and thank you to our School Board for its investment in ensuring our students learn more, grow more, and achieve more in our classrooms than they could anywhere else!

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation oversees the prestigious competition, and today named 16,000 semi-finalists, who were chosen from more than 1.3 million students based on exceptional 2024 PSAT scores.  

For the next level of competition, the students will complete an application detailing academic achievements, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors; an endorsement and recommendation from a high school official; and an essay.  Students must additionally have earned SAT scores that confirm their PSAT performance. 

National Merit then will announce the 15,000 finalists, who will compete for 7,500 scholarships worth about $30 million to be awarded in the spring.

The semifinalists will be recognized by the Cherokee County School Board and Superintendent of Schools Mary Elizabeth Davis at the School Board’s October meeting.
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