Eight CCSD Seniors Named National Merit Finalists

Eight Cherokee County School District high school seniors are 2026 National Merit Scholarship Finalists!

They are: of Cherokee High School, Grace Dai, Andrew Lockwood, and Ian Zeller; of Creekview High School, Levi Cone and Aiden Johnson; of Etowah High School, Dylan Fallin; and of Sequoyah High School, Matthew Chemmala, and Riley O'Neill.  Congratulations to our honored students and their teachers and thank you to our School Board for its laser focus on ensuring our students are learning more, growing more, and achieving more in our classrooms than they could anywhere else!

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation, which oversees the prestigious competition, in the fall named 16,000 semi-finalists chosen from more than 1.3 million students based on exceptional 2024 PSAT scores.  To advance to be named finalists, students completed an application detailing academic achievements, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors; an endorsement and recommendation from a high school official; and an essay.  Finalists also needed to have earned SAT scores that confirmed their PSAT performance.  The finalists now will compete for 7,500 scholarships worth about $30 million to be awarded in the spring.

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