Four Detroit Country Day School seniors earned National Merit Semifinalist status, placing them among the top 1% of high school students nationwide.

Adam Khan, Tejas Khare, Sreekesh Panicker and Noah Shaban were named semifinalists in the 72nd annual National Merit Scholarship Program, the Beverly Hills school announced Friday, Sept. 18. Twelve classmates earned Commended Student recognition, bringing the school's total honorees to 16.

The school said fewer than 1% of the Class of 2027 nationwide earned semifinalist status, while about 3% were named commended students, according to the announcement.

Statewide, 535 Michigan students earned semifinalist status this year, up from 472 last year, according to MLive. More than 16,000 students across the country made the cut out of roughly 1.2 million who took the qualifying PSAT exam.

About 95% of semifinalists are expected to advance to finalist standing, according to MLive. To do so, students must submit a detailed application covering academics, extracurriculars, leadership and employment, write an essay, confirm their PSAT scores with the SAT and receive a high school endorsement. About half of finalists win a scholarship.

The program will award roughly 6,700 scholarships worth approximately $24 million beginning in spring 2027. Those include 2,500 one-time $2,500 awards and additional scholarships funded by corporations, colleges and universities, according to the Detroit News. Winners will be announced in four rounds from April through July 2027.

The 12 DCDS commended students are Preston Blum, Henry Diemer, Omar Elbashir, Yashvini Goddla, Julia Goetz, Arushi Gupta, Georgia Hopkins, Meghna Kannan, Joseph Kassab, Anish Kondur, Ishana Patel and Aleen Sattar.

Across the area, Bloomfield Hills High School had six semifinalists and nine commended students, according to a Bloomfield Hills Schools announcement. Seaholm High School in Birmingham had one semifinalist, Hiren Patel, according to Birmingham Public Schools. Groves High School in Beverly Hills had one semifinalist, Jyoti Patel, according to the MLive statewide list.