Six Lawrence-area high school seniors have qualified as National Merit Scholarship semifinalists.
Bishop Seabury Academy senior Marcella MacGonagle achieved the honor, as did Eli Cokelet and James Gassmann, seniors at Lawrence High School, and Free State High School seniors Nathaniel Kramer, Isaac Mosier and Neel Sabarwal.
Kramer is also a photographer for The Lawrence Times.
Related post:
• Lawrence Virtual School student qualifies as National Merit semifinalist, Sept. 11, 2025
“Over 1.3 million juniors in about 20,000 high schools entered the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2024 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants,” according to a news release from the school district.
Semifinalists represent less than 1% of high school seniors across the country and include the highest-scoring entrants in each state, according to the release.
Nationwide, there were more than 16,000 semifinalists, according to the release.
Finalists, to be determined through an application process, can compete for various scholarships during the spring semester.
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