Frisco ISD’s academic excellence shows in the number of seniors who this year have been named National Merit Semifinalists, and once again, that number is higher than any other school district in the state.
A total of 120 seniors are 2027 National Merit Semifinalists, and 58% of them have attended Frisco ISD for at least 10 years and 55 of those students have been enrolled in FISD since kindergarten or first grade.
National Merit Semifinalists stand out academically, but they also excel in other areas. That includes the 11 National Merit semifinalists for 2027 who participate on FISD basketball, cross country, golf, swimming and tennis teams.
The FISD athletes who are 2027 National Merit Semifinalists:
Sahil Prabhu – Centennial basketball
Sounak Sen – Reedy cross country
Jinwoo Sok – Centennial cross country
Saanvii Senthilkumar – Memorial golf
Shreyas Konduru – Frisco swimming
Ethan Liu – Liberty swimming
Ranveer Awasthi – Liberty tennis
Sparsh Kamdar – Lebanon Trail tennis
Maggie Nemalikanti – Reedy tennis
Raghav R. Pillai – Lebanon Trail tennis
Ethan Tjong – Liberty tennis
The student-athletes are reflections of the mission in Frisco ISD, which strives to maximize students’ success in academics while also encouraging extracurricular activities as part of each student’s development.
“Earning recognition as a Merit Semifinalist is a tremendous accomplishment and a reflection of the strength of our instruction and the opportunities we provide students to challenge themselves and pursue their interests,” said Wes Cunningham, associate deputy superintendent. “We’re incredibly proud of these students and the hard work that brought them to this point, but we’re equally proud of the many ways our students are finding success every day.”
The 2027 National Merit Semifinalists, whose 2025 PSAT/NMSQT scores qualified them for the honor, now have the chance to be named Finalists in the spring and to earn National Merit Scholarships from a pool of about $24 million.
Over 1.2 million high school juniors across 20,000 U.S. high schools entered the program by taking the qualifying test, and less than 1% were named National Merit Semifinalists. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportionate to its number of graduating seniors.
Frisco ISD administers the PSAT to all 10th and 11th grade students each fall during the school day. Learn more about the PSAT being administered Oct. 1.