Albuquerque Public Schools
39 APS seniors named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists
Designation recognizes nation's top academic performers.
Thirty-nine Albuquerque Public Schools high school seniors have been named semifinalists in the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program.
The designation goes to the students who received the highest scores on the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Fewer than one percent of U.S. high school seniors qualify as semifinalists.
“We’re so proud of each one of these students,” said APS Superintendent Scott Elder. “They have worked hard and made academics a priority, and I’m thrilled that their dedication is being rewarded. These 39 students are among the top academic performers in the country, and I have no doubt that they’re going to go out into the world and do great things.”
More than 1.3 million juniors in more than 21,000 high schools took the PSAT in 2022. Of those, about 16,000 were named semifinalists and are eligible to compete for nearly $28 million in National Merit Scholarships.
The 2024 APS Semifinalists
Albuquerque High School
- Piia Torgeson
Early College Academy
- Kaitlyn Eberman
- Kevin Huang
- Aileen Ukwuoma
eCADEMY High School
- Sasha Palko
Eldorado High School
- Rory Claussen
- Iris Eisenman
- Manas Kandath
- Katelyn Lewis
- Levi Vugrin
La Cueva High School
- Brandon Bartlett
- Ishaan Bhatt
- Sarah Craig
- Hakan Dokmeci
- Dylan Foley
- Ryan Fried
- Gwenyth Graham
- Nico Grayson
- Harmony Guan
- Abitpal Gyawali
- Liam Hays
- Aditya Koushik
- Onyx Landaker
- Raphael Landau
- Adan Olbrich
- Victoria Outkin
- India Owens
- Griffin Probasco
- Aiden Shoppel
- James Stuart
- Shayan Tarefder
- Ariana Thiel-Hadjilambrinos
- Emily Wang
- Linus Wang
- Olivia Yang
nex+Gen Academy Magnet High School
- Benjamin Bandy
Sandia High School
- Benjamin Wilson
Valley High School
- Brooklyn Upton
Volcano Vista High School
- Henderson, Ezekiel
“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,” the organization said in a news release.