Sept. 13, 2023 ~ The National Merit Scholarship Corporation has announced the names of approximately 16,000 semifinalists in the 69th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. The Olathe School District has 21 seniors named National Merit Semifinalists.

The semifinalists from the district are:

• Olathe East High School: Ruoping Li
• Olathe North High School: Sahitha Chunduru, Andrew Dai, Edward Eastland, Soren Flannery, Anjali Hocker Singh, Luke Hui, David Lye, Anna Mayfield, Luke Montemayor, Landon Pribyl and Eva Smith
• Olathe Northwest High School: Andrea Diehl, Ian Edwards and Ella Novion
• Olathe South High School: Logan Carr, Jakob Kuehnen, Garrett Ledford and John McCarthy
• Olathe West High School: Caleb Chacon and Connor Lyons

From the approximately 16,000 semifinalists, about 15,000 are expected to advance to the finalist level and in February they will be notified of this designation. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,140 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28 million that will be offered next spring.

In addition, about 160 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 3,800 college-sponsored merit scholarship awards for finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.