Twenty Mason High School seniors landed spots among the roughly 16,000 students nationwide named 2027 National Merit Scholarship semifinalists, the district announced Wednesday, Sept. 9.

The group ties Walnut Hills High School for the most semifinalists from a single high school in Greater Cincinnati, according to a statewide list published by cleveland.com. Sycamore High School followed with 17.

The 20 Mason seniors are Sricharan Bala, Sahaj Datta, Neil Gera, Alice Luo, Nickson Moktan, Mahathi Panyala, Medhini Panyala, Amruta Puntambekar, Amogh Sankar, Prisha Singhal, Serena Tu, Sreemun Vedati, Aaryan Verma, Swarna Viswanathan, Amy Wang, Sarah Wang, Sakhet Yalamanchili, Raina Yang, Ethan Yao and Chloe Zhang.

Less than 1% of the approximately 1.3 million students who took the 2025 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) earned semifinalist status. Mason High School enrolls about 3,435 students in grades 9–12.

"We are incredibly proud of these 20 students and the dedication, curiosity and perseverance that have led to this remarkable achievement," Principal Ben Brown said in the district's announcement.

Two of the semifinalists, Neil Gera and Serena Tu, also earned recognition at the Ohio State Science Day in May, according to a separate district announcement.

To advance to finalist standing, students must complete a detailed application and confirm their test scores. Nationally, more than 15,000 of the roughly 16,000 semifinalists are expected to become finalists, and about half of those finalists will receive a scholarship.

Approximately 6,700 scholarships worth a combined $24 million will be offered in spring 2027. Winners will be announced beginning in April, cleveland.com reported. Three types are available: National Merit $2,500 scholarships, corporate-sponsored scholarships and college-sponsored scholarships.

Closer to home, Kings High School in Kings Mills also placed two students on the statewide semifinalist list: Annie Reeder and Logan Smith.