4 Washington Seniors Compete for $24M in Scholarships

Four seniors at Hanford High School in Richland, Washington, are celebrating a major academic milestone that puts them among the top 1% of high school students in America.

Charles Bales, Zayd Rahman, Aiden Wang, and Daniel Xiong earned National Merit semifinalist status this week, joining more than 16,000 students across the country vying for prestigious scholarships. The four represent their entire Tri-Cities region as the only local students selected for the honor.

The path to this achievement started when these students took the preliminary SAT as juniors in 2025, alongside 1.2 million other test takers nationwide. Their scores placed them at the very top, earning them a shot at scholarship money totaling $24 million.

Now comes the real competition. These semifinalists must submit detailed applications showcasing their academic records, leadership roles, community involvement, and personal achievements. In February, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation will narrow the field to finalists, and by spring, they'll select just 6,700 winners from the original 16,000 semifinalists.

The program offers three types of awards: direct $2,500 National Merit scholarships, college-sponsored scholarships for students attending participating universities, and corporate-sponsored awards from businesses supporting education. Winners earn not just financial support but the coveted "Merit Scholar" title that has honored more than 395,000 students since the program began in 1955.

Why This Inspires

What makes this story remarkable isn't just that four talented students scored well on a test. It's that they're part of a 72-year tradition celebrating academic excellence without regard to background, giving motivated students a real pathway to afford college.

For these four Hanford seniors, months of hard work are about to intensify as they polish their applications and wait for February's finalist announcements. But they've already achieved something special: proof that dedication and talent can open doors to opportunity, one test score at a time.

Their achievement joins them with hundreds of thousands of scholars who came before, all part of a legacy that says educational excellence deserves recognition and reward.