FORT BEND ISD (April 22, 2026) – Ten Fort Bend ISD students were announced as corporate-sponsored National Merit scholarship winners by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC®) today.

Winners include:

• Elizabeth Murray; Ridge Point High School; Probable career field: International Relations; Funded by Loews Corporation
• Anvay Raichurkar; Austin High School; Probable career field: Medicine; Funded by Occidental Petroleum Charitable Foundation
• Viral Sheel; Austin High School; Probable career field: Electrical Engineering; Funded by Westlake Chemical
• Aanya Singh; Dulles High School; Probable career field: Computer Science; Funded by Chevron Corporation
• Meenakshi Sivanandam; Dulles High School, Probable career field: Law; Funded by National Oilwell Varco
• Bryan Wang; Clements High School; Probable career field: Computer Science; Funded by National Oilwell Varco
• Chloe Weng; Clements High School; Probable career field: Applied Mathematics; Funded by National Oilwell Varco
• Dorian Wu; Clements High School; Probable career field: Engineering; Funded by Occidental Petroleum Charitable Foundation
• Ethan Xiao; Clements High School; Probable career field: Statistics; Funded by USAA
• Wufan Zang; Clements High School; Probable career field: Computer Science; Funded by Occidental Petroleum Charitable Foundation

Funding for these National Merit Scholarships is provided by corporate organizations that represent nearly all sectors of American industry.

Amounts of the awards are not disclosed but can range from $1,000 to $10,000 with most awards set to renew for up to four years of college. 

This is the first announcement of the 2026 National Merit Scholars by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. The second announcement of scholarship winners is expected on May 13, 2026, the third announcement will come out June 3 and the final group of winners will be announced July 13. 

About the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Competition

High school juniors entered the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2024 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®). This served as the initial screening.

In September 2024, more than 16,000 semifinalists who were identified as the highest scorers were designated from across the nation. They make up less than one percent of all senior high school students in the country.

To become a National Merit Scholarship winner, semifinalists had to complete a detailed application, which included writing an essay, plus providing information about their extracurricular activities, awards, and leadership positions. Semifinalists also had to be recommended by a high school official and earn SAT® or ACT® scores that confirmed their high performance on the qualifying test. www.nationalmerit.org