Coppell ISD has produced a district record-breaking 49 National Merit Semifinalists for the 2023-2024 school year, with 48 hailing from Coppell High School and one from New Tech High @ Coppell. This remarkable achievement places CHS as the high school with the highest number of National Merit Semifinalists in the state of Texas and as one of the top high schools in the nation in terms of the number of semifinalists, according to the 2024 National Merit Semifinalist Scholarship Program.
Being named a National Merit Semifinalist is a significant honor and a testament to a student's outstanding academic progress and success. Selection is based on student scores on the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. National Merit Semifinalists represent less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors. The 48 National Merit Semifinalists from Coppell High School are 4.9 percent of the senior class of 968 students, which means that CHS has almost five times the number of National Merit Semifinalists than the national average.
"This achievement is a reflection of these students' hard work, dedication and the exceptional education they receive from our outstanding teachers starting in elementary school, then middle and high school, as well the support of their incredible parents and families, and the entire Coppell ISD community,” CISD Superintendent Dr. Brad Hunt said. “We are immensely proud of our 49 National Merit Semifinalists and look forward to celebrating their success as they continue along their academic journey."
The following 48 National Merit Semifinalists from Coppell High School exemplify the school's commitment to rigorous academic programs and its commitment to fostering student success:
- Sri Achanta
- Sathvik Adusumilli
- Arya Agashe
- Nalini Agnihotri
- Tanishq Akasapu
- Saipragnya Akula
- Prerith Arunkumar
- Aman Asthana
- Akshat Athale
- Abhiram Atluri
- Ananya Atluri
- Aryan Bansal
- Sanika Bedse
- Vidita Bhotika
- Kedar Bulusu
- Tanmayee Chandupatla
- Sua Cho
- Rishi Dasari
- Samarth Dubey
- Ryan Gao
- Anveshi Goyal
- Nidhi Ilanthalaivan
- Alex Jang
- John Jericko John Veslin
- Manav Kapadia
- Ishaan Kashyap
- Abhilash Katuru
- Srinidhi Madur
- Vishnu Marella
- Avani Munji
- Praneeth Muvva
- Arjun Nijasure
- Tanvi Nikam
- Tanya Nikam
- Dhroov Pathare
- Spencer Paulsen
- Kshetra Polavarapu
- Nishnath Polavarapu
- Nitin Ponduri
- Pranav Puttagunta
- Rohan Raja
- Varun Ravilla
- Meet Shah
- Effie Shen
- Mahati Sudhagar
- Akhil Vellaturi
- Jessica Xu
- Brian Zhong
New Tech High @ Coppell, which emphasizes project-based learning and innovative approaches to education, is also celebrating its outstanding National Merit Semifinalist, Aditya Iyer.
This record-breaking achievement showcases the strength of the educational opportunities within Coppell ISD. This year’s 49 National Merit Semifinalists breaks CISD’s last record of 40 National Merit Semifinalists for the 2021-2022 school year — 39 for CHS and 1 for New Tech High @ Coppell.
These 49 National Merit Semifinalists will now proceed to the Finalist stage, where they will compete for prestigious National Merit Scholarships.