Eight Local Students Named National Merit Semifinalists

Eight students from Fayette and Coweta counties have been named semifinalists in the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program, joining more than 16,000 high school seniors nationwide selected for the honor.

Fayette County has seven semifinalists, including five students from McIntosh High School in Peachtree City, one from Sandy Creek High School in Tyrone, and one homeschool or online student from Tyrone.

Fayette County

McIntosh High School

• Addison E. Bryant
• Muriel M. Chan
• Graham J. Johnston
• Yuyu Lin
• Elliot S. Oh

Sandy Creek High School

• Simon Morano

Homeschool / Online School

• Hudson L. Murphy

Coweta County has one semifinalist.

Coweta County

Newnan High School

• John Ellis

The semifinalists represent less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

More than 1.2 million students entered the 2027 competition by taking the 2025 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, or PSAT/NMSQT. Semifinalists include the highest-scoring entrants in each state, with the number selected from each state proportional to its share of the nation’s graduating seniors.

To advance to the finalist level, semifinalists must submit a detailed scholarship application with information about their academic record, school and community activities, leadership experience, employment, honors, and awards. They must also be recommended by a school official, write an essay, maintain an outstanding academic record, and submit SAT or ACT scores confirming their earlier qualifying-test performance.

More than 15,000 semifinalists are expected to become finalists and will be notified in February. About 6,700 National Merit Scholarships worth approximately $24 million will be awarded in 2027.

Scholarships will include 2,500 National Merit $2,500 Scholarships, about 700 corporate-sponsored awards, and approximately 3,500 college-sponsored scholarships.

National Merit Scholarship winners will be announced in a series of releases beginning in April and continuing through July 2027.