First row left to right, Ethan Zhou, Tejini Holavanahali, Kristina Knauss, Emma Yang; (second row left to right) David Vergano, Zaylie Tamashiro, Olivia Zhang, Genavive Lotfi, Everly Johnston, Anna Raymond, Sianna Khandhar, Nandita Boddu, Noah Chin, Jeffrey Cheng; (third row left to right) Shubham Dey, Michael Wang, Emanuel Rouvelas, Ethan Ye, Benjamin Woods, Jack Apigian, Donghwa Shin; and (not pictured): Yeonsu Ju and Joseph Barboriak
This school year, McLean High School has 23 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists, which is the highest number in the school's history. The number of semi-finalists varies from year to year, but McLean HS usually has about 13 students named, according to Ellen Reilly, principal of McLean HS.
Reilly said that the only explanation she can think of for this year's high number is that the students' dedication to their studies is the reason. “We are quite proud of each one of these students and grateful to all the FCPS educators who supported them along the way,” Reilly said.