ROSEMOUNT, Minn. – Thirty-five District 196 seniors are receiving special recognition this fall for scores they achieved on a national standardized test they took last year as juniors. Eleven students are semifinalists in the 2025-26 National Merit Scholarship Program, 17 are National Merit commended students, and seven were selected for recognition in the College Board’s First Generation recognition programs. 

The 11 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists are:

• Thomas Gainor, Keira Schumacher, and Kai Wong of Eagan High School;
• Nina Galindez, Maya Jenkins, Jones Kanjirkatte, Joseph Panikkar, and Sai Rahul Reddy of Eastview High School, and
• Will Begich, Kellan Edwards, and Joseph Schilling of Rosemount High School.

The 17 seniors who are National Merit Commended students are: 

• Annsh Kain, Elizabeth Kenny, Saanvi Seth, and Nolan Siu of Eagan High School; 
• Advika Chaudhari, Tess Douma, Michah Durocher, Braden Hom, Alexander Kier, Agnus Laska, Suhaas Pothula, Anna Rezcallah, Aldon Roe, and Xiaohe Zhou of Eastview High School; and 
• Delilah Ober, Owen Moore, and Aaron Van Arnem of Rosemount High School.

The seven seniors who earned First Generation recognition are: 

• Janet Behailu, Muhannad Iman, Chanvis Jiang, Alex Kalaus, Philip Leyderman, and Naomi Samson of Eastview High School, and 
• Benny Lin of Rosemount High School. 

Students are selected as Semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program based on their scores on the voluntary Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), taken during 11th grade. Semifinalists rank in the top 1% of all students who took the test. National Merit Commended students rank in the top 5% of students nationwide and receive letters of commendation in recognition of their outstanding academic promise.
First Generation recognition goes to students who have a GPA of 3.5 and higher, rank in the top 10% on the PSAT, and/or have earned a score of 3 or higher on two or more AP exams in their freshman and sophomore years.

This is the first of six announcements annually by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, building up to announcing National Merit Scholarship awards beginning in April and concluding in July.