Plano ISD is proud to announce that 73 students have been named Semifinalists in the prestigious 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program. This distinguished honor places these students among the top academic performers in the nation, recognizing their exceptional achievements on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®).

These academically talented high school seniors have the opportunity to continue competing for some 6,930 National Merit Scholarships, worth nearly $26 million, that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. About 95 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and approximately half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title.

Semifinalists were selected from more than 1.3 million juniors across 20,000 high schools nationwide. Representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, these students achieved the highest scores in the state. To qualify as Finalists, Semifinalists must submit a comprehensive scholarship application highlighting their academic record, leadership experience, participation in school and community activities, employment, and honors and awards received. Additionally, students must be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay and earn SAT® or ACT® scores that confirm their qualifying test performance.

More than 15,000 of the 16,000 Semifinalists are expected to advance to the Finalist level, which will be announced in February 2026.

Saura Agarwal, Plano East Senior High School
Lakshit Ahuja, Plano West Senior High School
Aayush Appan, Plano West Senior High School
Divya Arunkumar, Plano West Senior High School
Yang Bai, Plano West Senior High School
Dhroov Bharatia, Plano Senior High School
Kris Biswal, Plano East Senior High School
Rehan Buvvaji, Plano West Senior High School
Vaani Chellamuthu, Plano East Senior High School
Nicholas Chen, Plano Senior High School
Oliver Chen, Plano East Senior High School
Athreya Chokhani, Plano East Senior High School
Aanya Chokshi, Plano Senior High School
Rongbai Dai, Plano West Senior High School
Ishan Das, Plano West Senior High School
Hayden Dillon, Plano East Senior High School
Noelle Doerr, Plano Senior High School
Ethan Fan, Plano West Senior High School
Kaitlyn Fan, Plano West Senior High School
Amber Gesell, Plano East Senior High School
Nirvan Ghimire, Plano East Senior High School
Ashwin Goel, Plano East Senior High School
Bantee Greene, Plano East Senior High School
Arya Gurumukhi, Plano East Senior High School
Cole Hongkeo, Plano West Senior High School
Abby Jennings, Plano West Senior High School
Kaustubhi Joshi, Plano West Senior High School
Lily Kincaid, Plano Senior High School
Sydney Kramen, Plano East Senior High School
David Liu, Plano West Senior High School
Ritika Manikandan, Plano East Senior High School
Adrian Marchant, Plano East Senior High School
Faizan Masroor, Plano West Senior High School
Rahul Mehta, Plano West Senior High School
Anushka Mohanty, Plano East Senior High School
Mahir Mondle, Plano West Senior High School
Edward Mou, Plano Senior High School
Dai Nakagawa, Plano West Senior High School
Bennett Noll, Plano East Senior High School
Vivian Pang, Plano Senior High School
Swathi Parameshwar, Plano East Senior High School
Kyle Park, Plano West Senior High School
Shardul Patel, Plano East Senior High School
Crystal Phung, Plano East Senior High School
Rithivk Punati, Plano West Senior High School
Eric Qian, Plano West Senior High School
Avleen Randhawa, Plano East Senior High School
Aditya Saran, Plano West Senior High School
Diya Senthilkumar, Plano West Senior High School
Riya Shah, Plano Senior High School
Aliza Sheikh, Plano West Senior High School
Samuel So, Plano West Senior High School
Harry Sun, Plano West Senior High School
Vedant Sundar, Plano East Senior High School
Dyan Tecuatl, Plano East Senior High School
Vihaan Thakore, Plano West Senior High School
Ryan Thieu, Plano East Senior High School
Siri Tirumuru, Plano West Senior High School
Siya Tripathi, Plano East Senior High School
Nishant Venkatachalam, Plano West Senior High School
Nang Vu, Plano Senior High School
Eric Wang, Plano West Senior High School
Aiden Wei, Plano West Senior High School
Ryan Xu, Plano West Senior High School
Jaden Yen, Plano West Senior High School
Amanda Yi, Plano West Senior High School
Lindsey Zhao, Plano Senior High School
Kaylee Zheng, Plano Senior High School
Qiting Zhou, Plano West Senior High School
Sam Zhu, Plano East Senior High School
Ida Zou, Plano West Senior High School

*This list includes students who have a publications consent and release form on file with the district.