California
List: National Merit semifinalists from California, class of 2025
The semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program — about 16,000 high school students, representing less than 1% of U.S. seniors — were announced on Sept. 11.
The semifinalists, from the graduating class of 2025, qualified based on their scores on the Preliminary SAT. About 95 percent are expected to attain finalist standing on the strength of an application detailing academic performance, school and community activities, and employment.
About half the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, to be announced in the spring.
Below are the semifinalists from California, listed alphabetically by city (in bold) and high school.
Also: The Class of 2025 semifinalist list for Bay Area schools
ACTON
VASQUEZ H. S.
AGOURA HILLS
AGOURA H. S.
- Fonkalsrud, Christian
- Gelb, Matthew
- Korob, Ian
ALAMEDA
ALAMEDA H. S.
- Handler, Myles A.
- Song, Jacob J.
ALAMEDA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE
ENCINAL H. S.
HOMESCHOOL / ONLINE SCHOOL
ALBANY
ALBANY H. S.
- Batnairamdal, Altanshagai
- Fahn, Leilani
- Gold, Skylar
- Lam, Mabyn
- Lee, Bennett
- Rothstein, Samuel
- Watt, Liam
- Zhang, Dori
ALHAMBRA
ALHAMBRA H. S.
- San, Kaung H.
- San, Kaung M.
MARK KEPPEL H. S.
ALISO VIEJO
ALISO NIGUEL H. S.
- Halphide, Danielle
- Milby, Jackson
- Selvan, Noah
- Song, Ian
ANAHEIM
CANYON H. S.
- Hassain, Rohan
- Kim, Alexandr
ESPERANZA H. S.
- Hoang, Matthew
- Sharma, Shivali
FAIRMONT PREPARATORY ACADEMY
- Hollis, Francis
- Kim, Noelle
- Lee, Siheon
- Pau, Cheuk Fu Ian
- Shvartsman, Ava
HOMESCHOOL / ONLINE SCHOOL
ANTIOCH
ANTIOCH H. S.
ARCADIA
ARCADIA H. S.
- Athavale, Avani A.
- Cha, Minjun
- Cheng, Lewis
- Choy, Hei Yin
- Hussain, Syed S.
- Kulkarni, Dhruti G.
- Kumar, Avik
- Lin, Annette L.
- Liu, Mia Y.
- Luc, Don C.
- Ma, Max M.
- Ng, Zuni
- Prabhutendolkar, Atharv A.
- S. G. Yousuf Mohammed, Anas
- Wang, Catherine Z.
- Wang, Herrick X.
- Xu, Zejin
- Yen, Evan S.
ARROYO GRANDE
ARROYO GRANDE H. S.
ATHERTON
MENLO – ATHERTON H. S.
- Buerchner, Andrew
- Chen, Lilah S.
- Chien, Celine
- Djafari, Sara J.
- Goldman, Samuel S.
- Justice, Anna J.
- Kaushikan, Rohan
- Klingsporn, Rose B.
- Knox, William P.
- Lee, Valentine
- Margulis, Arden T.
- Mattal, Brandon C.
- Nam, Corbin M.
- Waitz, Anthony A.
- Weiss, Benjamin R.
MENLO SCHOOL
- Chen, Sophia
- Dokanchi, Anthony
- Hsia, Kate
- Kim, Amanda
- Klugman, Isabella
- Mangtani, Ruchi
- Palmer, Clifford
- Park, Benjamin
- Xin, Karen
SACRED HEART PREPARATORY SCHOOL
- Newby, Megan
- Smith, James
- Verner, Alexis
BAKERSFIELD
CENTENNIAL H. S.
LIBERTY H. S.
STOCKDALE H. S.
- Gaikwad, Kunal
- Natt, Ekamjot
BELLFLOWER
ST. JOHN BOSCO H. S.
BELMONT
CARLMONT H. S.
- Block, Linnea A.
- Cao, Mason Y.
- Ching, Camille I.
- Clusin, Audrey A.
- Crowther, Paige K.
- Crowther, Samantha J.
- Dastidar, Aviraj G.
- Feldman, Mitchell E.
- Hai, Zara A.
- Kumar, Manya S.
- Lennemann, Alinando
- Nobrega, Maximilian M.
- Ohashi, Shiyo K.
- Rui, Gabriel Y.
- Scholl, Tae L.
- Sneeringer, Jackson M.
- Wang, Catherine Y.
BENICIA
HOMESCHOOL / ONLINE SCHOOL
- Bowman, Hannah
- Bowman, Nathan
BERKELEY
BERKELEY H. S.
- Bianchi-McElwee, Max
- Cheng, Simon
- Cline, Amon
- Coleman, Anna
- Dernburg, Benjamin
- Nickolaus, Ilana
- Philhower, Violet
- Saenz, Alita T.
- Simic, Emanuel
- Srinivasan, Lucas
- Underwood, Calder
ST. MARY’S COLLEGE H. S.
- Osorio, Shai
- Wollitzer, Isaiah P.
BEVERLY HILLS
BEVERLY HILLS H. S.
- Bakshian, Benjamin
- Goldkorn, Tali
- Li, Vincent
- Smiler, Andrew
- Zhang, Sarah
BIG BEAR CITY
BIG BEAR H. S.
BREA
BREA OLINDA H. S.
BRENTWOOD
LIBERTY H. S.
BURBANK
BURBANK H. S.
- Missakian, Avedis
- Patel, Diya
INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL LOS ANGELES
BURLINGAME
BURLINGAME H. S.
- Browdy, Zoe A.
- Keeley, Lucas C.
- Levitt, Alexandria A.
- Meng, David X.
- Nguyen, Brandon Z.
- Peng, Aaron Z.
CALABASAS
VIEWPOINT SCHOOL
- Dans, Julian
- Green, Samuel L.
CAMARILLO
ADOLFO CAMARILLO H. S.
- Hoang, Jadon N.
- Jiang, Ethan X.
- Thomas, Christopher K.
RANCHO CAMPANA H. S.
CAMPBELL
WESTMONT H. S.
- Hwang, Jocelyn
- Ranjith, Yash M.
- Wu, Alexander
CANYON COUNTRY
CANYON H. S.
CARLSBAD
ARMY AND NAVY ACADEMY
CARLSBAD H. S.
- Dee, Zaiden
- Dresios, Demetrios
- Dresios, Marianthe
- Dresios, Vassilios
PACIFIC RIDGE SCHOOL
- Santiago, Jaden
- Simpson, Carter
SAGE CREEK H. S.
- Caviness, Phillip
- Dougherty, Jacob
- Farrelly, Keenan
- Hao, Yunshu
- Lee, Emma
- Sakhranov, Ivan
CARMICHAEL
JESUIT H. S.
- Pryor, Luke L.
- Troppmann, Maximilian A.
- Yiakis, Benjamin A.
CARSON
CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE
- Choung, Isaiah
- Chung, Yuchan
- Kim, Justin
- Lunker, Titiksha
- Trinh, Phong
- Vu, Quan
CASTRO VALLEY
CASTRO VALLEY H. S.
- Chen, Sean
- Crowell, Haley J.
- Huang, Edison J.
CERRITOS
CERRITOS H. S.
GRETCHEN WHITNEY H. S.
- Anand, Aanya
- Chao, Benjamin
- Han, Jaden
- Huang, Ann
- Hui, Ethan
- Kim, Stanley
- Kumar, Luv
- Senanayake, Dineth
- Vida, Gavin-Kai
- Vu, Christopher
CHATSWORTH
SIERRA CANYON SCHOOL
CHINO HILLS
RUBEN S. AYALA H. S.
- Chao, Ryan
- Hong, Caden M.
- Kim, Ethan H.
- Mattison, Cole H.
CHINO HILLS H. S.
CHULA VISTA
OLYMPIAN H. S.
CLAREMONT
CLAREMONT H. S.
- Cheng, Leo L.
- Moore, Ian L.
- Ou, Sofia M.
- Rockwell, Simon P.
VIVIAN WEBB SCHOOL
- Duan, Kexin
- Hou, Danting
- Yang, Wen
WEBB SCHOOL OF CALIFORNIA
- Hu, Zhenghao
- Lan, Tingxu
- Pang, Jay
- Xu, Hanbo
- Yang, Aaron
CLOVIS
FLOYD B. BUCHANAN H. S.
- Beauchamp, Jack
- Fowler, Autumn
CLOVIS EAST H. S.
CLOVIS H. S.
CONCORD
CARONDELET H. S.
CUPERTINO
CUPERTINO H. S.
- Bhagwat, Rohan
- Chaba, Zachary
- Chen, Matthew
- Cu, Aaron
- Do, Wonyoung
- Eranki, Bhargav
- Frake, Dylan
- Gokhale, Aakash
- Kandasamy, Shivanth
- Kang, Alvin
- Kang, Melody
- Khan, Zoya
- Kim, Ian
- Kuo, Brian
- Lee, Joyce
- Lee, Katherine
- Marfatia, Prachi
- Marfatia, Purva
- Mehta, Aarav
- Muliadi, Brandon
- Mupparthi, Ayaan
- Naphade, Atharv
- Naphade, Rohan
- Tomar, Avi
- Xie, Xiwen
- Xu, Grace
- Youn, Lina
- Yu, Faye
HOMESCHOOL / ONLINE SCHOOL
HOMESTEAD H. S.
- Anderson, Cecilia
- Belt, Atticus
- Bodke, Rohan
- Chang, Linda
- Chau, Hayden
- Chu, Alicia
- Dale, Dylan
- Fei, Jianwen
- Ferolito, Peter
- Giri, Adithya
- Khare, Aarush
- Kim, Ellia
- Mishra, Sanatan
- Ng, Matthew
- Noujeim, Clara
- Sirota, Alexander
- Tsai, Perry
- Yeung, Ezra Kai Lok
- Yuan, Samuel
MONTA VISTA H. S.
- Avadhanam, Pranav
- Bhandarkar, Anika
- Chatterjee, Nishant
- Dambalkar, Nandan
- Devakonda, Indu
- Eranti, Abhiraam
- Garg, Rohin
- He, Alicia
- Huang, Aiden
- Hung, Chloe
- Kamarshi, Hemani
- Kancherla, Saahithi
- Kaushik, Kanchan
- Ke, Carina
- Ke, Karen
- Kellogg, Ethan
- Li, Allen
- Liu, Lanhao
- Mehta, Annika
- Pullara, Maya
- Qin, Melissa
- Rastogi, Keshav
- Tai, Alan
- Vicchrilli, Elisabeth
- Wang, Selina
- Yang, Alyssa
- Yao, Sunny
- Yoon, Robin
- Zeng, Alexander
- Zheng, Dorothy
- Zhou, Charlotte
CYPRESS
HOMESCHOOL / ONLINE SCHOOL
OXFORD ACADEMY
- Le, Emily
- Lee, Janice D.
- Lee, Joseph J.
- Nguyen, Khanh K.
- Shao, Veronica Y.
- Yoon, Rachel J.
DALY CITY
SUMMIT SHASTA
WESTMOOR H. S.
DANA POINT
DANA HILLS H. S.
DANVILLE
ATHENIAN SCHOOL
- Molitor, Garrett M.
- Solomon, Michael J.
MONTE VISTA H. S.
- Atkinson, Kalen J.
- Bijlani, Trisha
- Cao, Stephanie Y.
- Chao, Rex S.
- Dolan, Liam K.
- Ferman, Emre
- Fernandez, Sofia F.
- Gandhi, Arshia
- Kabbarah, Bashar
- Kayari, Amanda E.
- Kuwahara, Callen M.
SAN RAMON VALLEY H. S.
DAVIS
DAVIS H. S.
- Ben Haj, Fatima
- Ding, Grace
- Jung, Wooyoung
- Kim, Jodie
- Koenig, Thomas
- Lee, Jennifer
- Mieske, Cole
- Parikh, Arav
- Qi, Brandon
- Rose, Noam
- Wang, Ryan
- Yang, Wenqi
DIAMOND BAR
DIAMOND BAR H. S.
- Chaisakulchai, Nattanicha
- Chen, Jayden
- Chung, Amanda
- Doratan, Janna Audrey
- Hoen, Ethan
- Jung, Cody
- Liu, Matthew
- Prasetyo, Daniel
- Xie, Donson
DUARTE
DUARTE H. S.
DUBLIN
DUBLIN H. S.
- Adiga, Greeshma R.
- Aravind, Anuraag
- Balupari, Laasya
- Bharadwaj, Kashyap R.
- Bhattiprolu, Vineel
- Chamberlain, Sonya W.
- Das, Aditya
- Fielding, Evan A.
- Geng, Kevin L.
- Gurusankar, Tarini
- Liu, Franklin J.
- Mittal, Isha
- Mukherjee, Abhijoy N.
- Noique, Matthew G.
- Suzuki, Kaito
- Wang, Emma L.
- Xiao, Eric Y.
- Zhou, Jason
QUARRY LANE SCHOOL
- Chen, William
- Chen, Yao
- Hu, Ricky
- Iyer, Dhruv V.
- Jain, Diya
- Ji, Ada
- Karippara, Harshitha
- Liu, Tiffany
- Mannava, Pranati
- Manyam, Krishiv
- Mehra, Dev
- Sridharan, Srinitha
- Valliappan, Saravanan
- Wong, Ryan
- Xie, Crystal
- Yan, Sam
- Zhuge, Elizabeth
EASTVALE
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT H. S.
EDWARDS
DESERT H. S.
EL CAJON
GRANITE HILLS H. S.
EL CERRITO
EL CERRITO H. S.
- Arkin, Oliver M.
- Seo, Daniel J.
EL DORADO HILLS
OAK RIDGE H. S.
- Boucher, Nola
- Feldman, Mason
- Ni, Andrew
- Pham, Ethan
- Tribble, Alexandra
EL SEGUNDO
EL SEGUNDO H. S.
VISTAMAR SCHOOL
ELK GROVE
COSUMNES OAKS H. S.
- Arnold, John M.
- Jiang, Benjamin
- Moua, Nu A.
- Tong, Matthew S.
- Tran, Viettam N.
PLEASANT GROVE H. S.
EMERYVILLE
EAST BAY GERMAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
ENCINITAS
THE GRAUER SCHOOL
SAN DIEGUITO ACADEMY
- Berman, Jonah
- Lo, Aiden
- Pai, Christopher
- Sarikonda, Aaditya
- Sleight, Dahlia
ESCONDIDO
CLASSICAL ACADEMY H. S.
SAN PASQUAL H. S.
FAIRFIELD
ANGELO RODRIGUEZ H. S.
FOLSOM
FOLSOM H. S.
- Ching, Kaelyn
- Datta, Ishan
- Koneru-Ansari, Sami
- Tiwari, Deepankar
VISTA DEL LAGO H. S.
- Borole, Anish
- Puritipati, Rahul
FOSTER CITY
HOMESCHOOL / ONLINE SCHOOL
FOUNTAIN VALLEY
FOUNTAIN VALLEY H. S.
- Nguyen, Benjamin
- Nguyen, Jaquelyn
FREMONT
ALSION MONTESSORI H. S.
- Hoang, Kenric
- Samsi, Anushree
AMERICAN H. S.
- Arya, Advika
- Ashwin, Aditi
- Baldwa, Avishi
- Chaurasia, Ayush
- Chen, Keane
- Das, Archit
- Edappily, Roger
- Fan, Alice
- Ganapathy, Thryambak
- Garg, Krishay
- Godavarthy, Abhiram
- Huang, Lucas
- Jegadheswaran, Nidhes
- Johar, Alfiya
- Karthikeyan Marudhavanan, Dharshini
- Kuang, Kallie
- Kulkarni, Riya
- Kumaraswamy, Anirudh
- Kwok, Ching Yeung
- Li, Howard
- Lian, Zikai
- Luo, Shijie
- Mohammad, Amaan
- Qiao, Benjamin
- Reddy, Anshuman
- Sharma, Shreeya
- Singh, Tegh
- Solanki, Avik
- Tian, Madison
- Tseng, Cher
- Veeramaneni, Saahith
- Wen, Max
- Zhi, David
BASIS INDEPENDENT
- Bachheti, Manya
- Bhatt, Romil
- Deshmukh, Atharv
- Gowda, Shamak
- Kiran, Aditi
- Li, Ryan
- Liang, Bridget
- Ni, Joshua
- Pilli, Rohan
- Soni, Aashna
- Wang, Joy
- Wong, Allyson
- Wu, Luoxi
- Yan, Kevin
- Zhang, Chloe
IRVINGTON H. S.
- Carthikeyan, Anandika
- Chakraborty, Aanya
- Chao, Abraham
- Chen, Jeremy
- Choi, Esther
- Dasgupta, Sahana
- Du, Jaden
- Gadre, Mihir
- Gao, Christopher
- Gu, Ruiyun
- Huang, Darren
- Jia, Ziqi
- Konda, Vaishnavi
- Kuan, Mason
- Lan, Eric
- Luo, Francis
- Prashantha, Shreya
- Rao, Avani
- Raviotta, Andrew
- Shen, Vinna
- Shu, Wynn
- Sun, Jerry
- Surana, Ritika
- Thodupunoori, Shubhankar
- Vairavan, Soundharya
JOHN F. KENNEDY H. S.
MISSION SAN JOSE H. S.
- Awasthi, Ishaan
- Chatterjee, Rajorshi
- Chen, Angelina
- Chen, Novak
- Chen, Pengyu
- Chen, Simeng
- Chu, Patrick
- Gupta, Aadi
- Hsiung, Issac
- Jani, Ashwika
- Jayaraj, Michelle
- Jonnadula, Monish
- Joseph, Jeremy
- Kamath, Atul
- Leng, Ester
- Liang, Sarah
- Liu, Kaylee
- Lu, Ivy
- Manur, Rishabh
- Nachiappan, Aghilan
- Patil, Shubham
- Prabhakar, Palak
- Prasanna, Lakshmi Narasimhan
- Rao, Varun
- Roy, Ishani
- Sen, Tuheen
- Tan, Jonathan
- Tunguturu, Saidivyesh
- Wu, Raina
- Wudaru, Vaibhav
- Zhao, Alexander
- Zhao, Andrew
- Zhao, Evelyn
- Zhou, Anika
- Zhou, Carina
- Zhou, William
WASHINGTON H. S.
- Alokozai, Edris
- Mehta, Bhavya
- Pamula, Lilian
- Rao, Anika
- Sankaran, Advait
- Vohra, Mahika
FRESNO
CLOVIS NORTH H. S.
- Estrada, Pauline Victoria
- Mehrotra-Varma, Shiv
- Rao, Sonia
- Shi, Zian
EDISON H. S.
UNIVERSITY H. S.
- Dimitrova, Alexandra
- Tran, Vien
- Xu, Angelina
FULLERTON
FULLERTON UNION H. S.
SUNNY HILLS H. S.
- Kim, Kiheon
- Lee, Celerina
- Ma, Matthew
- Shah, Zayne
TROY H. S.
- Babiker, Iman H.
- Bahng, Zoey C.
- Chan, Addison B.
- Chen, Evan Y.
- Choi, Eric W.
- Eng, Stephen
- Fu, Elizabeth J.
- Her, Andrew N.
- Hwang, Tristan L.
- Jang, Eunjun
- Kulkarni, Soham P.
- Lim, Nathan J.
- Liu, Sophia L.
- Ma, Xiyue
- Malladi, Bhavna
- Naranjo, Bianca Z.
- Nguyen, Noah T.
- Park, Justin K.
- Patel, Sara M.
- Peddi, Aditya R.
- Peng, Derek Y.
- Pramanick, Anya
- Rhee, Victoria M.
- Shi, Cloris F.
- Simmonds, Jack R.
- Sreedhar, Diya
- Takagi, Matthew Y.
- Tsai, Andrew W.
- Wang, Ethan H.
- Wang, Stanley M.
- Wu, Patricia Q.
- Yang, Yuqi
- Zhao, Zhuoran
- Zhou, Jacqueline R.
GARDEN GROVE
BOLSA GRANDE H. S.
PACIFICA H. S.
RANCHO ALAMITOS H. S.
GILROY
DR. T. J. OWENS GILROY EARLY COLLEGE ACADEMY
GLENDORA
GLENDORA H. S.
- Prince, Carter
- Ravi Shankar, Diya
GOLETA
DOS PUEBLOS H. S.
- Avolio, Liam
- Davis, Ryan
- Gardiner, Alexander
- Harris, Malcolm
- Mayo, Rainier
- Palmer, Charles
- Van De Veire, Nathaniel
- Xie, Joy
GRANADA HILLS
GRANADA HILLS CHARTER H. S.
- Boodram, Victor
- Dinh, Stephanie
- Hendrix, Kaytlin
- Kim, Nicole
- Mayberry, Thomas
- Sun, Benjamin
GRANITE BAY
GRANITE BAY H. S.
- Miller, Aubrey
- Newlin, Molly
GRASS VALLEY
BEAR RIVER H. S.
HAYWARD
CALIFORNIA CROSSPOINT H. S.
MOREAU CATHOLIC H. S.
HEALDSBURG
HEALDSBURG H. S.
HILLSBOROUGH
CRYSTAL SPRINGS UPLANDS SCHOOL
- Booth, Greylin
- Brameld, Maximilian
- Dalal, Rohan
- Jang, Nicholas
- Liou, Brandon
- Ma, Brandon
- Mornell, Aidan
- Wilson, Henry
- Yang, Katherine
HUNTINGTON BEACH
HUNTINGTON BEACH H. S.
MARINA H. S.
IRVINE
ARNOLD O. BECKMAN H. S.
- Chang, Madeleine
- Kamble, Swaroop
- Ly, Tyler
- Nazareth, Rachel
- Nguyen, Andy
- Owyang, Luke
- Pradhan, Srishti
- Wang, Gabrielle
CREAN LUTHERAN H. S.
- Goddard, Luke
- Lai, Ethan
- Paek, Matthew
- Ranalli, Leo
IRVINE H. S.
- Gaikwad, Ishaan
- Judd, Madilyn
- Lai, Lauren C.
- Lee, Ryan J.
- Liu, Emily
- Sriram, Sumanth
NORTHWOOD H. S.
- Aithal, Shreya
- Au, Kelly K.
- Batra, Aadya
- Chai, Daniel
- Chen, Yufei
- Chung, Shao-Yuan
- Dhar, Arnav
- Dinh, Jocelyn Q.
- Dutta, Vidisha
- Godse, Neil
- Gupta, Riya
- Haydon, Cole L.
- Kadakia, Viraj H.
- Kang, Nathan
- Le, Jasmine T.
- Lim, Minseo
- Lin, Michael
- Michelsen, Nirav
- Nam, Christine Y.
- Pan, Ethan H.
- Suen, Stanley
- Wang, Jinsi
- Wong, Jayden L.
- Yang, Sophia J.
PORTOLA H. S.
- Bank, Gregory Y.
- Chae, Jongmin
- Chang, Vivian L.
- Chau, Luke D.
- He, Kyle Y.
- Kim, Tiffany
- Lee, Eric Y.
- Lu, Vivian M.
- Nunna, Mourya
- Salunkhe, Aditi A.
- Samudra, Ruhi V.
- Shah, Nirmit
- Shin, Jaehun
- Shin, Luke H.
- Xie, Leyu
- Xu, Zijing
- Yedla, Aarnav
- Zhang, Mingjin
UNIVERSITY H. S.
- Baek, Blake I.
- Barathan, Urmila
- Chao, Aaron
- Chen, Kenneth
- Chen, Yufei
- Dai, Sophia Y.
- Davis, Quinne S.
- Fang, Victoria W.
- George, Abel C.
- Hexun, Miles K.
- Jafar, Sky
- Jafary, Niklaus
- Jiang, Annie
- Jiang, Ashaley
- Kim, David Y.
- Kim-Ozaeta, Jed
- Lantz, Amy R.
- Lee, Handersen P.
- Li, Victor G.
- Liauw, Ocean K.
- Liu, Jingxuan
- Naganov, Aleksandr
- Naranatt, Anugrah
- Niktash, Daniel E.
- Peng, Jayden C.
- Piedad, Kayla N.
- Randhawa, Agam S.
- Szeto, Jonathan D.
- Villadelgado, Ryan C.
- Wen, Claire C.
- Zhang, David Z.
- Zheng, Zhe
- Zhong, Evan
WOODBRIDGE H. S.
- Chang, Matthew
- Funston, Layne
- Li, Xiang
- Lim, Alex C.
- Lu, Alyssa P.
- Pamarti, Sukruti
- Pham, Charlotte C.
- Wong, Derrick K.
KENTFIELD
MARIN CATHOLIC H. S.
LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE
FLINTRIDGE PREPARATORY SCHOOL
- Bassuk, Clara
- Belzer, Kai
- Fong, Elise
- Geller, Michelle
- Liorsdottir, Steinunn
- Sue, Gregory
- Waldheim, Chase
- Zhong, Sophia
LA CANADA H. S.
- Hwang, Colin
- Kim, Eliya
- Kronson, Gabriel
- Petropoulos, Zoe
- Street, Samuel
- Thornburgh, Kaylee
- Wei, Aidan
ST. FRANCIS H. S.
LA CRESCENTA
CLARK MAGNET H. S.
CRESCENTA VALLEY H. S.
- Hamkins, Easan
- Kim, Aiden
- Ma, Garrison
- MacMillan, Alex
- Mansukhani, Jamie
- Zou, Lily
LA HABRA
SONORA H. S.
LA JOLLA
THE BISHOP’S SCHOOL
- Chen, Carley
- Chuckravanen, Sashi
- Gover, Mia
- Ha, Khai
- Kao, Emma
- Kim, Angelina
- Liang, Hao
- Lin, Audrey
- Liu, Serena
- Qin, Ryan
- Spiro, Dillon
- Wang, Logan
- Wang, Muping
- Wu, Yuanxiang
- Yi, Zoe
LA JOLLA COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL
LA JOLLA H. S.
- Abell, David
- Cairns, Dylan
- Cox, Katherine
- Jones, Elijah
- Lehman, Mira
- Lehman, Sarah
- Myers, Benjamin
- Sharma, Kyra
LA MESA
HELIX CHARTER H. S.
- Beer, Lukas R.
- Kertson, Peyton S.
LAFAYETTE
ACALANES H. S.
- Garcia, Zachary J.
- Hoeberechts, Kaya Y.
- Johnson, Julia H.
- Ristow, Carsten L.
- Yoshinaka, Jake M.
BENTLEY SCHOOL
- Chiang, Clifton
- Friedrichs, Olivia
- Peterson, Robert
- Ragins, Rachel
- Tao, Wilson
- Waltzer, Joseph
- Weiss, Theodore
LAGUNA BEACH
LAGUNA BEACH H. S.
- Butler, Frederic
- Hagen, Lyric
LAKE FOREST
EL TORO H. S.
LARKSPUR
REDWOOD H. S.
- Filler, Daniel
- Hartung, Nicholas
- Scott, Charles
LIVERMORE
GRANADA H. S.
- Dhanvantari, Sameer
- Iyer, Avi
- Mahesh, Rishabh
- Manley, Audrey
- Markel, Caspar
- Mehta, Aarav
- Mohammed, Ziad
- Mueller, Amelia
- van Waes, Kayla
- Wang, Kate
LIVERMORE H. S.
VINEYARD ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL
LONG BEACH
LONG BEACH POLYTECHNIC H. S.
- Deo-Dixit, Tejus
- Madden, Sarah
- Steege, Allegra R.
- Steege, Jade
LOS ALAMITOS
LOS ALAMITOS H. S.
- Carruth, Warren C.
- Leung, Jacob D.
- Li, Daniel C.
- Moore, Vivian M.
- Nguyen, Tracy A.
- Yew, Avery M.
- Zacheis, Mira
LOS ALTOS
LOS ALTOS H. S.
- Agarwal, Devansh
- Aron, Dhruv
- Avrahami, Noam
- Chatwin, Piper
- Chung, Sarah
- Feldman, David
- Hui, Kaihon
- Jamieson, Audrey
- Johnson, Oscar
- Li, Sophie
- Lin, Timothy
- Ma, Kaden
- Peter, Theodore
- Samek, Benjamin
- Tang, Joshua
- Xu, Michael
LOS ALTOS HILLS
PINEWOOD SCHOOL
LOS ANGELES
THE ARCHER SCHOOL FOR GIRLS
BRENTWOOD SCHOOL
GEFFEN ACADEMY AT UCLA
- Koga, Bryce
- Wen, Matthew
- Wood, Jonah J.
HOLLYWOOD H. S.
LARCHMONT CHARTER SCHOOL
LOYOLA H. S.
- Algra, Turner J.
- Beerbower, Connor
- Brumbach, Lucas M.
- Lee, Samuel T.
- Mastandrea, John C.
- Nam, Chase H.
MARLBOROUGH SCHOOL
- Cheng, Yuan
- Grouf, Siena
- Melville, Emma
- Park, Ava
- Salkin, Margalit
- Shin, Eloise
- Williams, Beatrice
- Yang, Riley
MILKEN COMMUNITY SCHOOL
- Besterman, Lucas C.
- Simms, Samantha L.
VENICE H. S.
WINDWARD SCHOOL
- Granados-Puvvula, Aman
- Shubin, Quaid
LOS GATOS
LOS GATOS H. S.
- Dai, Leo
- Eldridge, Kyle
- Gan, Kevin
- Jones, Rohan
- Mai, Thien
- Mei, Jack
- Ohriner, Aryeh
- Pyle, Tatum
- Sahandi, Rosa
- Shankar, Tanav
- Sharma, Ria
MANHATTAN BEACH
MIRA COSTA H. S.
- Digilio, Eleanora
- Freelin, Colin
- Hughes, Cameron
- Kjar, Jack
- Kligys, Katherine
- Sagadevan, Hudson
- Witherell, Elizabeth
MARTINEZ
ALHAMBRA H. S.
MENLO PARK
SILICON VALLEY INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
MILL VALLEY
TAMALPAIS H. S.
MILLBRAE
MILLS H. S.
- Chen, Anna
- Le, Emi L.
- Pak, Jonathan H.
MILPITAS
MILPITAS H. S.
- De Guzman, Jericho Paul Mari M.
- Dong, Leslie
- Gupta, Aditi
- Gupta, Ananya
- Le, Kyle V.
- Ma, Oliver
- Mehta, Lakshya
- Mito, William C.
- Xu, Daniel D.
MISSION VIEJO
CAPISTRANO VALLEY H. S.
- Grier, Justice T.
- James, Donovan
TRABUCO HILLS H. S.
- Jain, Jennifer
- Kerns, Colin
- Regier, Grace
- Shah, Sahil
- Smith, Gavin
MODESTO
JAMES C. ENOCHS H. S.
JOSEPH A. GREGORI H. S.
- Sibala, Mourya
- Sun, David
MODESTO H. S.
MONROVIA
MONROVIA H. S.
MONTEREY
SANTA CATALINA SCHOOL
YORK SCHOOL
MOORPARK
HIGH SCHOOL AT MOORPARK COLLEGE
MOORPARK H. S.
MORAGA
CAMPOLINDO H. S.
- Baker, Clare
- Chen, Anna
- Cheung, Chloe
- Chugh, Dilon
- Dong, Andrew
- Jia, Marilyn
- Liao, Grace
- Pawlik-Zwiebel, Ariel
- Yu, Chang
MORGAN HILL
OAKWOOD SCHOOL
MOUNTAIN VIEW
HOMESCHOOL / ONLINE SCHOOL
KHAN LAB SCHOOL
- Kunz, Charles
- Sikka, Varin
- Vemuri, Sita
- Wang, Lauren
MOUNTAIN VIEW H. S.
- Chainani, Yash
- Cheong, Arthur
- Copeland, Asher
- Eisenberg, Maya
- Fisch, Maxwell
- Hofmeister, Kenzo
- Jain, Arihant
- John, Naisha
- Kao, Carolyn
- Kirmse, Adam
- Kumpf, Alison
- Lawrence, Clara
- Lee, Gisella
- Lee, Kate
- Lin, Marisa
- Mathew, Meera
- McCauley, Helen
- Nishi, Thomas
- Ravishankar, Mia
- Rutherford, Hannah
- Ta, Valerie
- Tang, Ryan
- Walker, Michelle
- Weise, Atulya
- Wing, Ethan
- Xu, Alexander
- Yin, Ryan
ST. FRANCIS H. S.
- Byrer, James
- Garg, Simren
- Gklaros-Stavropoulos, Alexander
- Nadkarni, Tej
- Ponnuvelu, Divya
- Sakthivel, Rhishi Balaa
- Sweatt, Kenya
- Tao, Katie
- Vijay, Smriti
- Winton, Katherine
- Yalamanchili, Anvitha
MURRIETA
MURRIETA VALLEY H. S.
NAPA
NAPA H. S.
VINTAGE H. S.
NEWBURY PARK
NEWBURY PARK H. S.
- Kane, Allison
- McIntosh, Duncan
- Pamidi, Arhat
NEWHALL
WILLIAM S. HART H. S.
NEWPORT BEACH
CORONA DEL MAR H. S.
- Leehealey, James E.
- Sapru, Naiya E.
- Tauro, Camille A.
SAGE HILL SCHOOL
- Chao, Madeleine
- Chen, Emily
- Gabriel, Anna
- Gan, Katelyn
- Graham, Justin
- Haworth, Benjamin
- Isakov, Sophia
- Jiang, Wanlin
- Kim, Ian
- Lai, Harriet
- Lew, Jesse
- Li, Christine
- Lin, Frank
- Lin, Sophia
- Lynn, Jacob
- Pang, Bo
- Rybakova, Raquel
- Sueyoshi, Claire
- Wang, Evelyn
- Wang, Mingyue
- Zhang, Jiaming
- Zhou, Sophia
NORTH HOLLYWOOD
NORTH HOLLYWOOD H. S.
- Chang, Dylan E.
- Ghasemi, Arman
- Isayan, Michael
- Kim, Matthew M.
- Lee, Andrew
- Meka, Hriday V.
- Minton, Nathan A.
- Swain, Penelope C.
- Thomson-Tribe, Eno
- Wood, Aeneas M.
OAKWOOD SCHOOL
- Cleckler, Markus
- Reich, Louis
SCIENCE ACADEMY STEM MAGNET
- Said, Gideon E.
- Tang, David S.
OAK HILLS
CEDAR LIFE ACADEMY
OAK PARK
OAK PARK H. S.
- Chu, Joy Z.
- Kim, Daniel K.
- Kladopoulos, Penelope I.
- Mehta, Kavya
- Nicks, William
- Patil, Siddhant S.
- Pourmohammadi, Armin
- Ruan, Margaret
- Rydman, Raja I.
- Wan, David P.
OAKDALE
OAKDALE H. S.
OAKLAND
COLLEGE PREPARATORY SCHOOL
- Agarwal, Mira
- Arreola, Bernice
- de Figueiredo, Caetano
- de Figueiredo, Tiago
- Distiller, Jesse
- Fromson-Mayhew, Julia
- Helft, Rafael
- Hosten-Mittermaier, Orhan
- Lee, Katelyn
- Rakowski, Taryn
- Rees, Gardner
- Saphir, Otto
- Saxonov, Anne
- Schul, Manon
- Wolff-Merovick, Jules
- Zhu, Eric
- Zhu, Ruoxi
HEAD – ROYCE SCHOOL
BISHOP O’DOWD H. S.
- Kerley, Andrew
- Kerley, August
- Song Schnitzler, Joaquin
OAKLAND TECHNICAL H. S.
- Morehead, Steven J.
- Myall-Martin, Reba
- Schafer, August B.
OCEANSIDE
EL CAMINO H. S.
OJAI
THE THACHER SCHOOL
ONTARIO
CHAFFEY H. S.
ORANGE
ORANGE LUTHERAN H. S.
ORINDA
MIRAMONTE H. S.
- Anderson, William
- Crisologo, Jacob
- Hagendoorn, Logan
- Rguem, Preston
- Rivera-Gu, Abigail
- Wong, Chase
- Wong, Emma
OXNARD
RIO MESA H. S.
PACIFIC PALISADES
PALISADES CHARTER H. S.
- Ball, James
- Hurd, Annalisa
- Sonnett, Samantha
PACIFICA
HOMESCHOOL / ONLINE SCHOOL
PALO ALTO
CASTILLEJA SCHOOL
- Cham, Mika
- Kim, Abigail
- Nukala, Ananya
- Ryu, Christine
- Verma, Diya
HENRY M. GUNN H. S.
- Bogart, Tessa
- Cha, Hamin
- Dhingra, Siyona
- Gao, Grace
- Goel, Agastya
- Guo, Jerry
- Humphreys, Lionel N.
- Humphreys, Owen N.
- Kass, David
- Kim, David
- Knutson, Mei T.
- Kou, Daniel
- Le, Anh
- Liu, Benjamin
- Liu, Siqi
- Lum, Brian H.
- Mao, Caroline X.
- Murase, Noah
- Nam, Sophie
- Nanevicz, Joseph J.
- Ni, Eric
- Oh, Justin
- Qian, Charlotte
- Ren, Samuel Y.
- Sane, Nikita
- Satpathy, Sangeet
- Seo, Jiho
- Su, Stella
- Tang, Alyssa R.
- Tsen, Janus Ling An
- Vasanawala, Sauram
- Wang, Michael
- Weinstein, Jonah
- Xiao, Aleena
- Yue, Alan W.
- Zeineh, Esme S.
- Zhang, Daniel
KEHILLAH JEWISH H. S.
- Follmer, Anton
- Zucker, Isaac
PALO ALTO H. S.
- Akin, Rory A.
- Avital, Noam
- Cho, Kanghee
- Chou, Forrest
- Grewal, Sarina K.
- Huang, Cynthia C.
- Huang, Joyce
- Ji, Lambert H.
- Jiang, Nathan
- Johnson, Moss K.
- Kim, Justun J.
- Konduri, Samhita
- Lee, Holden
- Li, Andrew
- Lin, Crystal M.
- Liu, Bryan
- Lu, David
- Migliore, Kevin
- Motwani, Divij
- Pujji, Keerath K.
- Rao, Angela
- Rescorla, Darwin
- Tamura, Arun
- Tuteja, Maxwell Akash G.
- Valouev, Aleksey
- Wu, Vince X.
- Xia, Katherine J.
PALO CEDRO
FOOTHILL H. S.
PALOS VERDES ESTATES
PALOS VERDES H. S.
- Fu, Michael Q.
- Kao, Olivia J.
- Tydlaska, Avery K.
- Yu, Allison S.
PALOS VERDES PENINSULA
CHADWICK SCHOOL
- Hatch, Bryce
- Lee, Diane
- Matsunaga, Noah
- Saket, Ryan
- Segil, Jack
- Yoon, Ashton
PASADENA
LA SALLE H. S.
- Hoskins, Jake
- Lin, Ethan
- Liu, Annie M.
- Liu, Xinyan
- Truong, Lucas A.
MARANATHA H. S.
MARSHALL FUNDAMENTAL SCHOOL
PASADENA H. S.
- McConnell, Paulina
- Paz, Matthew
POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL
- Kim, Ashley
- Kim, Evelyn
- Sim, Ennio
- Teng, Ava
WESTRIDGE SCHOOL
- Leizman, Sarah
- Li, Yeuk On
PEBBLE BEACH
STEVENSON SCHOOL
- Eum, Wonjin
- Lee, Gordon K.
PIEDMONT
PIEDMONT H. S.
- Detlefsen, Maximo
- Glass, Sophia
- Gudiksen, Ellen
- Jajodia, Aman
- Olliphant, Sabrina
- Sauer, Ava
- Tang, Aliana
- von Metzsch, August
PLACENTIA
VALENCIA H. S.
- Choi, Samuel
- Chung, Makayla H.
- Keum, Saebyeok
- Park, Yoojun
PLACERVILLE
EL DORADO H. S.
SKY MOUNTAIN CHARTER SCHOOL
PLEASANTON
AMADOR VALLEY H. S.
- Barik, Arianna
- Bian, Ziyu
- Chawla, Gauri
- Chen, Alayna
- Chen, Eric
- Cheng, Zachary
- Chugh, Tejasveer
- Das, Aryan
- Deshpande, Aditi
- Dmitriev, Filipp
- Erigineni, Archith Datta
- Gao, Catherine
- Garg, Abhinav
- He, Zhiheng
- Hoang, Helen H.
- Jones, Christian
- Kalkunte, Varadan
- Kazempour, Skye
- Panicker, Dia
- Pranadi, Skyler J.
- Prashanth, Vidhaat
- Ravishankar, Sanjay
- Singhania, Vardaan
- Sreekumar, Raghav
- Sundar, Anusha
- Wang, Alex
- Xie, Leran
- Xu, Jennifer T.
- Zhang, Angela
- Zhang, Leyuan
FOOTHILL H. S.
- Bajpai, Advay
- Bhandari, Prisha
- Biswal, Aahana
- Chakraborty, Ratul
- Chui, Karisa
- Cooper, Emily
- Cowger, Kellyn
- Gupta, Kabeer
- Huber, Clarissa M.
- Jaiswal, Nirav
- Kallu, Anish
- Lin, Phil
- PalaniThangavelappan, Lakshanya
- Penumuchu, Harini
- Sun, Iris Z.
- Zhang, Kylie
- Zhen, Alex
POMONA
DIAMOND RANCH H. S.
- LeFevre-Dhore, Ryan N.
- Sykes, Shakari J.
PORTOLA VALLEY
WOODSIDE PRIORY SCHOOL
- Buddin, Elise
- Duh, Andrew
- Hurlbut, Andrew
- Kawaja, Cole
- Lee, Cara
- Ozaki, Spencer
- Zhou, Rui
POWAY
POWAY H. S.
- Bizjack, Donovan G.
- Chu, Landan Y.
- Gregg, Elizabeth A.
- Kirschbaum, Megan S.
- Stewart, Gabriel J.
RANCHO CUCAMONGA
HOMESCHOOL / ONLINE SCHOOL
- Abdou Bishay Baris, Arsany M.
ETIWANDA H. S.
LOS OSOS H. S.
- Diep, Alexandria L.
- Jang, Wilson
RANCHO CUCAMONGA H. S.
- Goh, Vinessa
- He, Duojia
- Vista, James R.
UNITED CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
RANCHO MIRAGE
HOMESCHOOL / ONLINE SCHOOL
RANCHO SANTA FE
HIGH BLUFF ACADEMY
RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA
SANTA MARGARITA CATHOLIC H. S.
TESORO H. S.
- Ganguly, Ayush
- Guo, Michelle
- Li, Jessie
REDLANDS
REDLANDS H. S.
- Howo, William
- Liu, Amanda
- Moenius, Marlon
- Pidaparthi, Abhinav
- So Lee, Tiffany
- Zhang, Ellie
REDONDO BEACH
REDONDO UNION H. S.
- Carson, Paul
- Chae, Christian
- Douglas, Kyler
- Kurihara, Madison
- Leto, Amelia
- Lu, Tristan
- Son, Yijun
REDWOOD CITY
DESIGN TECH H. S.
- Baggott, Eli
- Berger, William
- Chan, Mackenzie
- Crawford, Skye
SEQUOIA H. S.
- Chang, Christine
- Kokal, Rikhil
- Torkos, Soren
- Wu, Shangheng
SUMMIT PREPARATORY H. S.
RESEDA
RESEDA H. S.
RIALTO
WILMER AMINA CARTER H. S.
RIVERSIDE
JOHN W. NORTH H. S.
RIVERSIDE POLYTECHNIC H. S.
RIVERSIDE STEM ACADEMY
ROCKLIN
ROCKLIN H. S.
- Moniz, Brook N.
- Tzeng, Noah J.
WESTERN SIERRA COLLEGIATE ACADEMY
ROLLING HILLS ESTATES
PALOS VERDES PENINSULA H. S.
- Aye, Emily Y.
- Baghoolizadeh, Neekta S.
- Chai, Meizhu
- Choo, Ray Z.
- Espinoza, Leila M.
- Fast, Charlotte M.
- Lee, Abigail F.
- Lin, Brandon K.
- Lin, Juliette J.
- Lu, Eric Y.
- Ma, Jacob A.
- Monzon, Aaron S.
- Rhoades, Alena C.
- Shu, Mason W.
- So, Hyunbin
- Tom, Bryce R.
- Wang, Angelina Y.
- Xu, Zhian
ROSEVILLE
OAKMONT H. S.
WEST PARK H. S.
ROSS
BRANSON SCHOOL
- Jayaraman, Ishwar K.
- Johnson, Nathaniel G.
- Moon, Alexander
- Rudy, Rebecca
- Xu, Owen
ROWLAND HEIGHTS
JOHN A. ROWLAND H. S.
- Hagiwara, James Y.
- Liang, Arthur C.
SACRAMENTO
BRADSHAW CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
CHRISTIAN BROTHERS H. S.
MIRA LOMA H. S.
- Bodducherla, Tanay
- Chen, Celina X.
- Crowder, Otis L.
- Hou, Nicole Z.
- Karanam, Nishanth T.
- Mahendra, Arnav
- Morasa, Arya
- Namozov, Dilshodbek B.
- Prasad, Nandini
NP3 H. S.
RIO AMERICANO H. S.
- Golden, Mia
- Pannell, Daphne
SACRAMENTO COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL
ST. FRANCIS H. S.
SAN ANSELMO
HOMESCHOOL / ONLINE SCHOOL
SAN DIEGO
CAL COAST ACADEMY
THE CAMBRIDGE SCHOOL
- Chin, Alexander
- Chin, Ethan
- Lee, Jeong-Chan
- Sinha, Zachary
CANYON CREST ACADEMY
- Amihai, Noam
- Backues, Alexander
- Bai, Ryan
- Bayraktaroglu, Ozan
- Bhat, Neha
- Bhatmuley, Shail
- Chadha, Arav
- Chen, Kaitlyn
- Chen, Stephen
- Criqui, Tate
- Fehmi, Ali
- Gao, Sarah
- Goodsell, Koe
- Guo, Brian
- Huang, Sierra
- Jiang, Helena
- Kim, Elly
- Lau, Celine
- Lesmes, Leo
- Li, Anlin
- Liu, Allen
- Long, Giada
- Lu, Emily
- Lutsenko, Kirill
- Malhotra, Nav
- Mandadi, Krish
- Mao, Albert
- Minna-Choe, Kailani
- Mock, Ella
- Mostowfi, Kimia
- Palyada, Aahana
- Shao, Elaina
- Song, Audrey
- Sun, Haowen
- Tak, Minkyu
- Tian, Andrew
- Uchiyama, Misa
- Wang, Jintong
- Wang, Sarah
- Wu, Larry
- Wu, Ryan
- Zhang, Alan
- Zhang, Emily
- Zhang, Maggie
- Zhang, Noel
- Zhou, Andrew
DEL NORTE H. S.
- Akella, Satvik
- Bansal, Rishi
- Chang, Sean
- Chu, Brandon
- Darugar, Rayyan
- Dewasurendra, Pahan
- Khattar, Zinia
- Kimber, Allison
- Lalwani, Nikhil
- Marilla, Isabel
- Mondal, Raunak
- Ni, Chenjia
- Partridge, Alyssa Jane
- Patel, Shreeya
- Patel, Tanay
- Patil, Tanisha
- Pulivendula, Ankit
- Rajasekar, Jeevika
- Ramamurthy, Chinmay
- Reddy, Alekhya
- Shah, Ayanna
- Sheng, Raymond
- Simon, Noah
- Tang, Sophia
- Tejada Oviedo, Andres
- Wadhwani, Dishti
- Xiao, Alex
- Xu, Kate
- Zhang, Jason
- Zhu, Steven
MISSION BAY H. S.
MORSE H. S.
- Grilli, Elena
- Reinstein, Miles
MOUNT CARMEL H. S.
- Kalyanaraman, Anirudh
- MacIsaac, Kayden A.
- Nudurupati, Aneesh
- Palacios, Daniel
- Wen, Raine
MOUNT EVEREST ACADEMY
FRANCIS W. PARKER SCHOOL
- Brown, Jonas
- Li, Eric
- Manda, Abhiram
- Ohta, Jason
- Parikh, Anika
- Soule, Nicholas
RANCHO BERNARDO H. S.
- Dinh, Nathaniel
- Kwack, Joyce
- Slape, Peyton
- Thienpreecha, Pukaphol
- Yang, Christopher
SCRIPPS RANCH H. S.
- Bai, Nicholas
- Cai, Michelle
- Chan, Andrea
- Choi, Hyein
- Colbourn, Robert
- Henderson, Lauren
- Manikandan, Rithvik
- Pacal, Edward
- Ramamurthy, Aditi
- Riehl, Quinner
- Rosing, Alisa
- Sanigepalli, Shashank
- Su, Ian
- Tran, Delbert
- Wang, Vivian
TORREY PINES H. S.
- Chang, Joshua
- Chen, Liuqing
- Jiao, Siyuan
UNIVERSITY CITY H. S.
- Deutsch, David
- Nordstrand, Noah
WESTVIEW H. S.
- Chen, Chloe J.
- Chen, Trevor B.
- Deng, Dylan M.
- Devadiga, Jyotsna Y.
- Lerdworatawee, Ryan L.
- Sun, Chloe J.
- Thayillam, Breanna M.
- Xie, Anne J.
- Yousuf, Ilana
- Zheng, Kyle X.
SAN FRANCISCO
JEWISH COMMUNITY H. S. OF THE BAY
LICK – WILMERDING H. S.
- Collomb, Leonard
- Mishra, Saahil
- Park, Frances
- Park, James
- Roberts, Harper
- Tseng, Alexander
ABRAHAM LINCOLN H. S.
LOWELL H. S.
- Koster, Sebastian
- Ngo, Issac
- Nguyen, Pierce
- Shuster, Ilya G.
LYCEE FRANCAIS
PROOF SCHOOL
- Hung, Allison
- Marvit, Lachlan
- Son, Nathaniel
ARCHBISHOP RIORDAN H. S.
SACRED HEART CATHEDRAL PREPARATORY
SAN FRANCISCO UNIVERSITY H. S.
- Chrisman, Dorothy
- Garcia, Gabriela
- Gupta, Aria
- Hsu, Skye
- King, Chapel
ST. IGNATIUS COLLEGE PREPARATORY SCHOOL
- Chen, Wilson
- Duffy, Ciel R.
- Huang, Caden W.
- Liu, Adrian
- Miller, Luke W.
GEORGE WASHINGTON H. S.
SAN GABRIEL
GABRIELINO H. S.
- Chan, Kaden C.
- Vuong, Brandon
SAN GABRIEL H. S.
SAN JOSE
BASIS INDEPENDENT SILICON VALLEY
- Ahmad, Aya
- Avula, Shreyas
- Balmin, Joshua
- Das, Rohan
- Fazel-Rezai, Hamed
- Jin, Henry
- Khattar, Yashas
- Lai, Xiaoyue
- Li, Andrew
- Li, Sophia
- Liu, Cindy
- Liu, Samuel
- Liu, Stephanie
- Luo, Alex
- Mao, Ruinan
- Nair, Srilalitha
- Pillai, Diya
- Qi, Oliver
- Sar, Sonya
- Shao, Yourui
- Sun, Kenneth
- Sun, Xinyue
- Tan, Aindra
- Wang, Antony
- Wang, Luofei
- Zhang, Allison
- Zheng, Brianna
- Zhu, Michael
BELLARMINE COLLEGE PREPARATORY
- Ajiwibawa, Josh
- Arya, Arjun
- Chau, Elijah
- Choe, Ian
- Chu, Daniel
- Deshmukh, Samarjit
- D’souza, Zane
- Ghosh, Ayush
- Ho, Jonathan
- Irudayaraj, Akshay
- Jaison, Aaron
- Jiang, Daniel
- Jun, Luke
- Kennedy, Reid
- Krishna, Vayun
- Lekkelapudi, Avi
- Li, John
- Lin, Samuel
- Ling, Winston
- Park, Calvin
- Qian, Derek
- Raghav, Samskrith
- Rana, Abhijay
- Rohana, Jule
- Santos, Eli
- Tu, Arthur
- Zhao, Brian
- Zheng, Shuwen
BRANHAM H. S.
- Chen, Richfield
- Chua, Jie Ru
- Chua, Zhi Quan
- Do, Matthew
- Huang, Cassia
- Ji, Eulina
- Toren, Kevin
EVERGREEN VALLEY H. S.
- Abdulavahid, Rihana K.
- Agrawal, Pratinav
- Chiu, Audrey J.
- Chou, Matthew Z.
- Chung, Owen C.
- Dong, Kathleen N.
- Ganti, Ananya V.
- Garimella, Raghav V.
- Jonnalagadda, Nishant P.
- Kappagantula, Chandrasekhar
- Kashi, Neel
- Kweon, Jian
- Manamala, Harsha R.
- Pitre, Ishaan R.
- Shekar, Deshna
- Shetty, Tanish V.
- Singamsetty, Sahil
- Tran, Huy L.
- Yang, Rick K.
THE HARKER SCHOOL
- Affaki, Maya
- Agarwal, Savya
- Apte, Rajas
- Balaji, Shiven
- Bao, Aaron
- Bhargava, Saanvi
- Biswas, Fern
- Blennemann, Marcus
- Chakravarty, Shreyas
- Chen, Aaron
- Chen, Daniel M.
- Chen, Felix
- Chen, Harrison
- Chen, Jiazhi
- Cheng, Audrey
- Cheng, Claire
- Chung, Anderson
- Cui, Kyra
- Feng, Audrey
- Fu, Benjamin
- Gautham, Satvika
- Goel, Atharv
- Gou, Nelson
- Guan, Kaiyue
- Guo, Aaron
- Han, Chiling
- Hao, Anwen
- Huang, Jacqueline
- Jiang, Mu Jia
- Jiang, Steven
- Jin, Gary
- Jones, Avery
- Kotamraju, Akshay
- Krishnan, Neil
- Li, Juliana
- Li, Kyle
- Li, Valerie
- Liang, Andrew
- Liu, Austin
- Matta, Katerina
- Min, Young
- Mitnick, Emily
- Parupudi, Samhita
- Pawliger, Adam
- Peng, Songjie
- Perng, Claire
- Priyam, Kashish
- Ramkumar, Rohan
- Ran, Alicia
- Ravuri, Agastya
- Salvi, Tiana
- Sanghari, Sidak
- Shim, Jason
- Sudarsanam, Yasmin
- Thvar, Varun
- Vailaya, Aarush
- Wang, Ethan
- Wang, Jessica
- Weng, Elena
- Xue, Jonathan
- Yang, Alison
- Yang, Allison
- Yang, Grant
- Yi, Jason
- Yim, Sahngwie
- Yin, Melody
- Zeng, Chuyi
- Zhai, Max
- Zhang, Eric
- Zhang, Jeffrey
- Zhou, Yinan
HOMESCHOOL / ONLINE SCHOOL
- Cha, Jonah
- So, Kaleb
- Yeo, Naomi
LEIGH H. S.
- Ahn, Yejin
- Bharath, Maitreyi L.
- Cheong, Joo Young
- Ginto, Eben
- Gourisetty, Nikhil
- Jung, Seah
- Koski, Amy Y.
- Moses, Jack C.
- Narayanan, Advaith
- Wang, Eddie N.
- Wang, Yufan
LELAND H. S.
- Agarwal, Aayushi R.
- Carroll, Genevieve Z.
- Chan, William L.
- Gangwal, Antara
- Han, Benjamin
- Kiwalkar, Ameya M.
- Lai, Suhan
- Liu, Olivia
- Polak, Ella
- Ramaswamy, Shreyas K.
- Rao, Gaurav
- Singh, Aadit K.
- Tomaszewski, Adrian M.
- Wang, Kyan
- Xie, Anthony Y.
- Yan, Joshua J.
- Yu, Eleanor J.
- Zhou, Brian T.
LYNBROOK H. S.
- Babu, Meghana
- Belur, Ashwin
- Bi, Brian
- Bi, Jeffrey
- Chua, Jennifer
- Feng, Angelina
- Gao, Karen
- Gokulnatha, Shefali
- Gowaikar, Janhavi
- Guo, Christopher
- Ho, Helena
- Huang, Ashley
- Huang, Kangjia
- Jiang, Elizabeth
- Jiang, Leo
- Kakani, Snehil
- Kim, Daniel
- Kumar, Avaneeth
- Kumar, Rhea
- Lalwani, Vinay
- Li, Edwin
- Li, William
- Liu, Chang
- Lu, Jiahe
- Luo, Andrew
- Mehrotra, Aditya
- Pamichev, Paul
- Sahoo, Rishabh
- Shah, Arnav
- Shen, Meadow
- Shu, Valerie
- Siu, Hayden
- Song, Leo
- Sreekanthan, Sreehari
- Tang, Emma
- Thombre, Natasha
- Wajge, Akshat
- Wu, Alice
- Wu, Guanshan
- Xue, Brian
- Yang, Sophie
- Zhang, Qia
- Zhou, Caitlin
- Zhou, Calvin
- Zhu, Daphne
ARCHBISHOP MITTY H. S.
- Barsoum, Christopher
- Bhutani, Anika
- Choi, Lucas
- Das, Sameet
- Ding, Richard Z.
- Evans, Mia N.
- George, Ruth
- Karadigudda, Mahit M.
- Ku, Andrew
- Lal, Nora
- Lee, Emma M.
- Leung, Sebastian
- Lin, Madison E.
- Park, Andrew S.
- Prajapati, Samarth
- Qi, Hongda
- Rajasekar, Mukilan
- Sahu, Aayaan A.
- Schultz, Benjamin J.
- Shah, Arya U.
- Sutioso, Bianca V.
- Tsaggaris, James C.
- Vibhuti, Suyog
- Yu, Sean H.
NOTRE DAME H. S.
- Dietz, Maia
- Fernando, Riya
- Lloyd, Kendall
- Nebu, Miriam
- Vissamsetty, Anishka
PIEDMONT HILLS H. S.
- Chan, Dana L.
- Cheng, Wen-shi
- Hua, Tiffany N.
- Li, Jiaxing
- Pasupathi, Kavimitiran
- Rao, Samyak
- Shan, Yilin E.
- Wang, Alina
- Wei, Jackie Z.
PIONEER H. S.
- Feria, Sonia
- Gendzel, Louis
- Shankar, Nishant
PRESENTATION H. S.
- Hua, Calista
- Jain, Noopur
- Li, Sophie
- Pallikala, Karina
SANTA TERESA H. S.
- Kihara, Joshua D.
- Kim, Joyce H.
SILVER CREEK H. S.
VALLEY CHRISTIAN H. S.
- Akella, Sriya
- Bhattacharyya, Oishee
- Deng, Hongfan
- Duvedi, Mihir A.
- Emerson, Nicholas R.
- Gu, Alan S.
- Huang, Leo
- Kanjilal, Anijeet
- Khanal, Aansh A.
- Lao, Allison
- Li, Henry X.
- Li, Iris
- Liu, Christopher T.
- Lou, Chenming
- Peterson, Lucy B.
- Shen, Melody X.
- Shin, Daniel H.
- Yu, Eric W.
- Zou, Minghao
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO
J SERRA CATHOLIC H. S.
- Bisuna, Bryson
- Ebner, Jack H.
- Huynh, Sydney A.
- Kiani, Lauren T.
- Polay, Sophie
- Tong, Adam
- Youssef, Solange
ST. MARGARET’S EPISCOPAL SCHOOL
- Edwards, Alexa
- Rusli, Andrew C.
- Tam, Justin E.
SAN LORENZO
REDWOOD CHRISTIAN H. S.
SAN LUIS OBISPO
SAN LUIS OBISPO CLASSICAL ACADEMY H. S.
SAN MARCOS
SAN MARCOS H. S.
SAN MARINO
SAN MARINO H. S.
- Chwang, Caitlin
- Feng, Leo
- Jasim, Shanaya
- Ji, Jingshu
- Karkafi, Jeremy
- Kesavalu, Krishna S.
- Liu, Andy W.
- Mao, Connor
- Wu, Fei
SAN MATEO
ARAGON H. S.
- Birkelund, Charles L.
- Dara, Anish R.
- Dong, Andrew X.
- Hawkins, Leah H.
- Lam, Kenzo Y.
- Li, Hannah
- Liu, Melody
- Ma, Felix R.
- Moskewicz, Erika L.
- Mudoi, Ruhi M.
- Paramasivam, Akilan
THE NUEVA SCHOOL
- Arron, Eleanor
- Bodnick, Carly
- Cheng, Connor
- Cho, Oliver
- Gaillard, Theodore
- Lee, Jackson
- Li, Alaric
- Liu, Howard
- Lu, Vinca
- Luo, Sandra
- McDowell, Lara
- Pu, Dylan
- Salimi, Kian
- Sepulveda, Natalie
- Spivakovsky, Maxwell
- Wang, Cara
- Wong, Margaux
- Zhang, Yunzhi
- Zhu, William
SAN MATEO H. S.
- Gogi, Siddharth S.
- Hegde, Tanay
- MacAvoy, Julia B.
- Sabadra, Trisha A.
- Wang, Henry H.
- Zhang, Bruce M.
JUNIPERO SERRA H. S.
- Gibbs, Grant
- Hollister, Justin
SAN RAFAEL
MARIN ACADEMY
TERRA LINDA H. S.
SAN RAMON
CALIFORNIA H. S.
- Cheung, Meghan G.
- Chu, Isaac L.
- Griffin, Callan B.
- Li, Mengze
- Li, William Y.
- Liang, Kadon O.
- Nayak, Sahil S.
- Piggott IV, William T.
- Rudrakshi, Naman S.
- Srinivasan, Amritha
- Thippavajjula, Srikar
- Zhao, Cindy Y.
DOUGHERTY VALLEY H. S.
- Agarwal, Prisha
- Agrawal, Aryan
- Bhaskara, Aditya
- Bian, Hunter
- Challa, Varun
- Chandrasekhar, Aditya
- Chen, Josiah
- De, Aarush
- Krishna, Adithya M.
- Kumar, Vainavi
- Lee, Jayden D.
- Malani, Rohan V.
- Mehrotra, Khushi
- Mei, Andy L.
- Mishra, Plaban
- Nadhan, Pallavi
- Naidu, Nirav M.
- Narayan, Aditya
- Park, Aiden D.
- Park, Sejun
- Pham, Michael K.
- Rajkumar, Shalini S.
- Sandadi, Rohit
- Shen, Katherine X.
- Wang, Joy
- Wang, Joyce
- Wang, Justin
- Wei, Hongyi
- Wu, Joyce C.
- Xu, Victoria C.
- Zhang, Joshua Z.
- Zhang, Timothy Y.
- Zhao, William J.
SANTA ANA
FOOTHILL H. S.
- Afable, Gabriela M.
- Chew, Alexis
- Doughty, Elle
ORANGE COUNTY SCHOOL OF THE ARTS
- Bay, Matthew
- Chung, Yeeun
- Conroy, James
- Keyoung, Estella
- Kim, Hennah
- Kim, Katherine
- Martono, Matthew
- Parigela, Samuel
- Sparnicht, Kaya
SANTA BARBARA
HOMESCHOOL / ONLINE SCHOOL
SAN MARCOS H. S.
- Butler, Anna
- Hale, Sophia
SANTA CLARA
SANTA CLARA H. S.
- Kulkarni, Om S.
- Solaiman, Maryam S.
- Ticau, Daniel A.
- Vetcha, Aakash S.
ADRIAN C. WILCOX H. S.
- Bose, Shaan
- Breslin, Megan
- Hecomovich, Brian
- Perwez, Yusuf
- Seerapu, Neelesh
SANTA CLARITA
ACADEMY OF THE CANYONS
SANTA CRUZ
PACIFIC COLLEGIATE SCHOOL
SANTA CRUZ H. S.
- Grant, Carson
- Marini, Giovanni
SANTA MONICA
CROSSROADS SCHOOL
- Koskoff, Rowan
- Ma, Sophie
- Shaheen, Benjamin A.
PACIFICA CHRISTIAN H. S.
SANTA MONICA H. S.
- Benun, Phoebe R.
- Gage, Naomi Z.
- Lee, Connor H.
- Moses, Isabella C.
- Sullivan, Henry H.
- Thompson, Avelaine R.
- Yamashiro-Hergert, Emi
SANTA ROSA
MARIA CARRILLO H. S.
- Armstrong, Scarlett
- Ling, Jonathan
SANTEE
WEST HILLS H. S.
SARATOGA
PROSPECT H. S.
- Aggarwal, Arnav
- Hung, Matthew
- Kao, Alfred
- Konakanchi, Deepthi
- Radovic, Mihailo
- Varia, Aditi
- Wang, Grace
SARATOGA H. S.
- Berger, Katherine
- Bora, Akshat
- Bossow, Rebecca
- Chen, Aiden M.
- Chung, Richard
- Desarkar, Arshia
- Fu, Hayden
- Fung, Kirby
- Gechlik, Sarah
- Jia, Leonardo
- Lee, Nicole
- Leung, Timothy
- Li, Sydney
- Liu, Grace
- Lu, Alan
- Mao, Skyler
- Periyacheri, Ruhan
- Ramakrishnan, Saira
- Ramakrishnan, Tarun
- Schwartz, Daniel
- Siripurapu, Tanuj K.
- Tan, Angela
- Vash-Munoz, Alexander
- Wan, Andrae
- Wang, Brandon
- Wei, Timothy
- Wongsonegoro, Sora A.
- Zhang, Luke
- Zhou, Julius
- Zou, Jeremy
SAUGUS
SAUGUS H. S.
SHERMAN OAKS
THE BUCKLEY SCHOOL
- Barrett, Thomas
- Wagenaar, Sam
NOTRE DAME H. S.
- Caballero, Anton
- Pangilinan, Rowell
- Ranshaw, Carter
SIMI VALLEY
SANTA SUSANA H. S.
- Ironhill, Nolan
- Nair, Advaith
- Rodriguez, Josh Christian
SOLANA BEACH
SANTA FE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
- Pandian, Jadon
- Park, Malia
SOQUEL
SOQUEL H. S.
- Marcus, Ruben
- Sharma, Arundhati
SOUTH PASADENA
SOUTH PASADENA H. S.
- Chang, William
- Dickinson, Peter
- Kang, Suh-Hyun
- Kim, Isole
- Slattery, Max
- Sun, Morgan
- Wong, Ryan
- Xu, Christine
- Yue, Taidi
STOCKTON
LINCOLN H. S.
- Chan, Atticus
- Waldvogel, Eliot
MIDDLE COLLEGE H. S.
STUDIO CITY
CAMPBELL HALL
- Braun, Christopher
- Kim, Sage
HARVARD – WESTLAKE SCHOOL
- Aghnatios, Sasha S.
- Barr, Michael T.
- Beerel, Kira A.
- Callaghan, Rowan
- Cheng, Hugh
- Diggavi, Aryadini D.
- Goor, Zoe S.
- Grossman, Cole A.
- Iyer, Pranav
- Kadribegovic, Riyan B.
- Kiang, Zhi Feng Etan
- Kumar, Saisha
- Kushner, Remy
- Lakey, Everett M.
- Lee, Alex S.
- Liao, MeJo
- Lieberman, Ian
- Massey, Jacob
- O’Brien, Seth D.
- Park, Tyler H.
- Phillips, Olivia
- Pritzker, Margaret E.
- Putzer, William R.
- Reiner, Samuel
- Royer, Jordan
- Ryan, John
- Schaffer, Sophia S.
- Seung, Ethan
- So, Olivia S.
- Turetzky, Max L.
- Vita, Piper N.
- Ward, Edward H.
SUN VALLEY
VILLAGE CHRISTIAN H. S.
SUNNYVALE
FREMONT H. S.
- Esak, Disha
- Halambi, Dhruti
- Jain, Isha
- Lyon, Eliza
- Mohiuddeen, Zaynab
- Morley, Kyle
- Wang, Linda
HOMESCHOOL / ONLINE SCHOOL
- Chen, Jayden
- Chin, Connor
- Sawada, Reo
- Wang, Grace
THE KING’S ACADEMY
- Bhattacharya, Benjamin
- Huang, Anika
- Lee, Noah
- Rassbach, Isaiah
- Shanafelt, Grant
- Wang, Maximillian
TEMECULA
GREAT OAK H. S.
- Le, Jane H.
- Lee, Jun Woo
- Ryan, Nolan
- Young, Sienna
TEMPLE CITY
TEMPLE CITY H. S.
- Fong, Allison
- Hu, Joyce
- Phan, Tiffany
THOUSAND OAKS
THOUSAND OAKS H. S.
TORRANCE
BISHOP MONTGOMERY H. S.
- Choi, Caden
- Hahn, Kaila
- SOUTH H. S.
- Choi, Alexis
- Kamboj, Anay
WEST H. S.
TRACY
JOHN C. KIMBALL H. S.
TRACY JOINT UNION H. S.
TUJUNGA
VERDUGO HILLS H. S.
TUSTIN
LEGACY MAGNET ACADEMY
- Cheng, Justice
- Lee, Jaiden
UKIAH
UKIAH H. S.
UNION CITY
JAMES LOGAN H. S.
- Cheng, Lindsay
- Iyengar, Aariv
- Kapil, Yash
- Leong, Glynnis
- Ngo, Philip
- Suarez, Jericho
VACAVILLE
VACAVILLE H. S.
VALENCIA
VALENCIA H. S.
- Kim, Michaella
- Yeshala, Ritu
- Zeng, Elbert
WEST RANCH H. S.
- Lee, Hannah S.
- Myung, Jonathan J.
- Song, Camille Y.
VAN NUYS
VAN NUYS H. S.
VENTURA
VENTURA H. S.
VILLA PARK
VILLA PARK H. S.
- Byun, Christopher
- Huynh, Tyler
- Schroeder, Amelia
WALNUT
WALNUT H. S.
- Bian, Jiarong
- Cheng, Justin
- Donath, Surya D.
- Hong, Ted H.
- Kang, David H.
- Lee, Barron P.
- Lin, Andrew Z.
- Lin, Anson
WALNUT CREEK
BEREAN CHRISTIAN H. S.
CONTRA COSTA CHRISTIAN H. S.
LAS LOMAS H. S.
- Raphael, Seth
- Sivakumaran Thangaraj, Harrshwin
NORTHGATE H. S.
- Burenko, Mark
- Mitchell, Sophia
- Shen, Anthony
WATERFORD
CONNECTING WATERS CHARTER SCHOOL – EAST BAY
WEST COVINA
EDGEWOOD H. S.
WEST HILLS
CHAMINADE COLLEGE PREPARATORY
DE TOLEDO H. S.
WESTLAKE VILLAGE
OAKS CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
- Brady, Troy P.
- Denzel, XuXu L.
- Korman, Ellison G.
- Lee, Max J.
- Winter, Logan R.
- Yang, Owen C.
WESTLAKE H. S.
- Deng, Nina
- Firoozbakht, Eva
- Guzder, Zirak
- Kim, Jonah
- Mistry, Dhilen
- Wacht, Oren
WESTMINSTER
LA QUINTA H. S.
- Nguyen, Bryan B.
- Tu, Katelyn T.
WILMINGTON
DR. RICHARD A. VLADOVIC HARBOR TEACHER PREPARATION ACADEMY
WOODLAND
PIONEER H. S.
WOODLAND HILLS
EL CAMINO REAL CHARTER H. S.
WOODSIDE
WOODSIDE H. S.
- Adams, Astra
- Arai, Natalie H.
- Coffee, Grace E.
- Harbury, Ishan N.
- Lee, Madeline Y.
- Stevenson, Kate L.
YORBA LINDA
YORBA LINDA H. S.
- Dutta, Krish
- Jamal, Basim
- Kim, Chase
- Seaman, Avery
- Tsou, Megan
YUCAIPA
YUCAIPA H. S.
California
Federal homelessness data says California homeless population grew to 187,084 – Washington Examiner
(The Center Square) – Newly released federal data says California’s homeless population grew to 187,084 at the start of 2024, up from 181,399 in 2023, raising questions about the efficacy of the state’s tens of billions of dollars in recent homeless spending.
Most of the state’s increase in homelessness can be attributed to growth in the state’s unsheltered homeless population, which is nearly half of the nation’s total. However, the state’s homeless population did grow much less than the national average, suggesting some of the state’s programs — albeit costly — may finally be making an impact.
In September, California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office brushed off a CalMatters estimate that the state’s homeless population grew to nearly 186,000, telling The Center Square the organization’s reporting was based on incomplete data that analyzed only 32 of the state’s 58 counties.
“California and other officials use official confirmed data published by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and not CalMatters’ estimates, which are unverified,” said a Newsom spokesperson to The Center Square in September, when CalMatters released its report.
Now, the verified count from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recommended by Newsom’s office shows that homelessness is even higher than CalMatters estimated. This 5,685 individual increase in the state’s homeless population could suggest the state’s homelessness efforts — and tens of billions of dollars in recent state funding — have been unable to stop the growth of the state’s homeless population.
Earlier this year a state auditor looked into $24 billion of state homelessness spending, finding “the State lacks current information on the ongoing costs and outcomes of its homelessness programs” because it has “not consistently tracked and evaluated the State’s efforts to prevent and end homelessness.”
Newsom vetoed two widely-supported bipartisan bills to better track and evaluate homelessness spending and outcomes, saying his own directives to increase accountability make the measures redundant.
The state is now home to 123,974 unsheltered homeless individuals — up from 117,424 the year prior — or nearly half of the nation’s total. In 2019 — before the COVID-19 era — California had 151,278 homeless individuals, 108,432 of whom were unsheltered.
California
Your favorite movies starring California
Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. Here’s what you need to know to start your weekend:
The best movies that capture the essence of California
The Essential California team this year expanded opportunities for readers to directly engage with the newsletter. Each week we ask readers to answer a question — from the best local restaurants to favorite books.
One question in particular got a lot of attention and sparked some debate: What is your favorite movie that captures the essence of California?
Below are the most mentioned movies and comments from readers about what makes these films special to California. We hope this list will help find something to watch this weekend. Enjoy!
“Chinatown”
Adelaide writes: “It doesn’t get more iconic than a film noir that tackles tremendous geopolitical issues that still affect us to this day.”
And Jim writes: “How can you talk about movies that capture the essence of California and not mention one of the greatest movies of all time, ‘Chinatown’? Today, despite the state’s beauty and glorious climate (most of the time), it is still as corrupt and morally bankrupt as it was back in the days of stealing water from the Owens Valley.”
“Sideways”
Raymond Ballesteros writes: “One of my all time favorite movies to see that truly captures the essence of California, hands down, is ‘Sideways.’
“Alexander Payne seizes the beauty and majesty of California’s Santa Barbara wine country, including a handful of wineries that encapsulates the hearts of fellow wine lovers across California and the country. Of course, not to be watched with a glass of Merlot!”
“Point Break”
Fritzi Lareau write: “I am a tour guide and when touring the Golden State I show my guests ‘Point Break’ (the original with Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze) or ‘Hollywood Homicide’ starring Harrison Ford.”
“Stand and Deliver”
Robert Reul writes: “One great film that is 100% California is ‘Stand and Deliver,’ with Edward James Olmos and an amazing cast of young actors. I have found few, if any, films that capture the absolute magic that can happen in the community of first-generation Americans, descended from hard-working Mexican immigrants.”
Honorable mentions
“Top Gun”
“The Birds”
“The Parent Trap”
“The Big Lebowski”
“Fast Times at Ridgemont High”
“La La Land”
Want to wade into the debate over which movie captures the essence of California? Feel free to email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.
The week’s biggest stories
Florida is winning the political battle with California as Trump takes office
- Trump is stocking his cabinet with Floridians. And his plans to reverse California’s policies on the environment, crime, homelessness and education are facing far less pushback than they did during his first term.
- Gov. Gavin Newsom has vowed to continue the fight against Trump’s policies but without what he called “a resistance brand” that defined his earlier clashes.
- Meanwhile, healthcare is Newsom’s biggest unfinished project. Trump complicates the governor’s task.
Destructive waves keep thrashing Santa Cruz, causing millions of dollars in damage in recent years
Scientists say we are fighting H5N1 bird flu with one hand tied behind our backs
- Scientists and health officials fear we’re on the precipice of another global pandemic as the H5N1 bird flu virus steamrolls its way across the globe. But when that could come to pass is hard to predict.
- Just one mutation can make the bird flu a threat to humans, California researchers found.
- L.A. County health officials are warning pet owners to avoid raw cat food after a feline died of bird flu.
California is growing again
- The Golden State’s population grew by almost a quarter of a million residents in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, a rebound that brings California almost back to its pre-pandemic numbers.
- While California’s population gain of 232,570 people from July 1, 2023, to July 1, 2024, represents the largest numeric population increase in the nation’s West, it lagged behind Texas, which expanded its population by 562,941, and Florida, which grew by 467,347 people.
More big stories
Get unlimited access to the Los Angeles Times. Subscribe here.
This week’s must reads
A California inmate recruited “wives” to spread fentanyl across Alaska, federal authorities say.
The prisoner, Heraclio Sanchez Rodriguez, oversaw a sprawling drug ring that spread death and addiction to the most remote corners of Alaska, prosecutors say.
More great reads
How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.
For your weekend
Going out
Staying in
How well did you follow the news this week? Take our quiz.
Which creature gets top billing in the title of the Barry Jenkins–directed “Lion King” prequel that hit theaters last week? Plus nine other questions from our weekly news quiz.
Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team
Hunter Clauss, multiplatform editor
Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.
California
Winning $1.22 billion Mega Millions ticket sold in Northern California
One Californian has plenty of dough to ring in the New Year after drawing the winning number. After three months without anyone winning the top prize, a ticket worth an estimated $1.22 billion was sold for the drawing Friday night.
According to the California State Lottery, the jackpot ticket was sold in Cottonwood, within Shasta County limits. Two other 5 out of 5 winning tickets were sold in California; one in Roseville and another in San Bernardino.
The winner matched the white balls 3, 7, 37, 49, 55 and the gold Mega Ball 6. The identity of the winner was not immediately known.
The total amount of the Mega Millions jackpot would only be distributed to a winner who chooses an annuity paid over 29 years. Nearly all grand prize winners opt to take a cash payout, which for Friday night’s drawing is an estimated $549.7 million.
Despite the game’s long odds of 1 in 302.6 million, players continued to purchase tickets as the size of the grand prize grew. Until Friday, the last time a Mega Millions player hit the top prize was Sept. 10.
The largest-ever Mega Millions jackpot ticket worth $1.6 billion was sold in Florida in August 2023. Two prizes for its compatriot Powerball lottery have been larger.
Mega Millions and Powerball are sold in 45 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Powerball also is sold in Puerto Rico.
KTVU contributed to this report.
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