41 FBISD Students Awarded National Merit Scolarships

The National Merit® Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced the final group of 2026 National Merit Scholarship recipients today, bringing Fort Bend ISD's total to 41 scholarship winners. 

FBISD's 2026 National Merit Scholarship winners attended Austin, Clements, Dulles, Elkins, Kempner and Ridge Point high schools.

Today’s announcement marks the fourth and final round of winners in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program. 

Dulles High School graduate Kester MacGregor was awarded a National Merit Scholarship financed by Texas A&M University, where he will study Mechanical Engineering this fall. 

Macgregor is one of 21 FBISD students who earned scholarships sponsored by United States colleges or universities. 

Officials from each sponsor college selected their winners from among the finalists in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program who will attend their institution. These awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship. 

Earlier this spring, the NMSC announced 10 FBISD students were awarded corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards and 11 FBISD students National Merit $2,500 Scholarships.

 
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 2025, 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 

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