More than three dozen Inland Empire high school students were named semifinalists Wednesday, Sept. 10, in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program.
The National Merit Scholarship Corp. announced the names of more than 16,000 semifinalists, who can continue to compete for nearly $26 million in scholarships in spring, a news release states.
The semifinalists still need to meet several requirements to become finalists in 71st annual competition, a news release states.
The Inland Empire semifinalists and their schools are:
Chino Hills
Ayala High School
- Zoe Hsieh, Zoe
- Evan H. Lee
Claremont
Claremont High School
- Caleb J. Fong
- Arnav N. Merla
- Gabrielle Mussey
- Aabhisaar A. Shrivastav
- Luke I. Vinall
The Webb Schools
- Alexander Lee
- Yiyang Liu
- Yihui Lu
- Tobey Ng
- Candice Tang
Corona
Centennial High School
Santiago High School
Eastvale
Roosevelt High School
- Praneet R. Dumpa
- Erin E. Liao
- Saanvi S. Nukala
- Ruiqi Zhang
Hemet
Western Center Academy
Loma Linda
Loma Linda Academy
Murrieta
Murrieta Valley High School
Norco
John F. Kennedy Middle College High School
Rancho Cucamonga
Los Osos High School
Rancho Cucamonga High School
- Yvonne A. LaBollita
- Jonathan Wang
Redlands
Grove High School
Redlands High School
- Harris Green
- Advaith Kidambi
- Yahya Salman
Riverside
Martin Luther King High School
Riverside STEM Academy
Temecula
Chaparral High School
- Aleksandr Samofal
- Tony Yang
Great Oak High School
- Kevin Cao
- Divyamsu S. Nallamothu
- Charles C. Zhang
Temecula Valley High School
Upland
Upland High School
Winchester
Temecula Preparatory School
Ines C. Yanez
