International Polytechnic High School senior Jayson Li has been named a semifinalist in the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program, placing him among the nation’s highest-achieving high school students.

Li, a 17-year-old Walnut resident, is one of more than 16,000 semifinalists selected nationwide. More than 1.2 million juniors from approximately 20,000 high schools entered the competition by taking the 2025 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Semifinalists represent less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors.

“International Polytechnic High School is proud to recognize senior Jayson Li as a National Merit Semifinalist,” IPoly Principal Bryan West said. “It is a significant honor to be recognized for his outstanding performance. He serves as an ideal representative of everything IPoly has to offer.”

Li credits consistency, hard work and the time-management skills he developed at IPoly with helping him succeed. In addition to his high school coursework, he has taken concurrent courses at Cal Poly Pomona, including microeconomics, macroeconomics and college algebra.

“Being a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist is meaningful to me because it shows the results of all the effort I have put into academics throughout high school,” Li said. “It also makes me proud because it shows that staying consistent with my work has actually paid off.”

Li said IPoly’s project-based learning environment has also helped him strengthen his communication, collaboration and accountability skills. For his senior capstone project, he plans to explore water pollution in the Los Angeles region and develop an engineering-based solution to address the issue.

After graduating, Li hopes to study business and economics, with a particular interest in using data and quantitative information to make better business decisions. He is considering Cal Poly Pomona, UCLA and UC Berkeley.

To advance to the finalist level, semifinalists must meet additional academic and application requirements. More than 15,000 students are expected to become finalists, with approximately 6,700 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $24 million to be offered in spring 2027.