Three Union Bands Seniors named National Merit Semi-Finalists

center three pictured, left to right: Edwin Chen, Jacob Coulter, Rylan McClain

Five Union High School Seniors have been named 2025-2026 National Merit Finalists, among them are three Union Bands students! Let’s congratulate:

• Edwin Chen, son of Zhenyu H. Chen and Jane Luo, of Tulsa;

• Jacob Coulter, son of John and Jane Coulter, of Broken Arrow

• Rylan McClain, son of Jeremy and Chenelle McClain, of Broken Arrow
  

ABOUT NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP

These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth about $33 million that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition. Finalists will be named in February 2026.

NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 440 business organizations and higher education institutions that share NMSC’s goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.

To participate in the National Merit Scholarship Program, a student must:

• Be enrolled full time as a high school student, progressing normally toward graduation or completion of high school, and planning to enter college no later than the fall following completion of high school;

• Be a citizen of the United States or, if not now a citizen, a permanent U.S. resident (or an applicant for permanent residency) in the process of becoming a U.S. citizen; and

• Take the PSAT/NMSQT ® in the specified year of the high school program and no later than the third year in grades 9 through 12, regardless of grade classification or educational pattern.

CECILY YOAKAM JOINS UNION BANDS FACULTY

Ms. Cecily Yoakam is excited to come home to Union as an assistant band director.

Ms. Yoakam graduated from the University of North Texas where she studied oboe with James Ryon and completed her student teaching practicum under Mrs. Kathy Johnson in Argyle ISD.

Upon her graduation, Ms. Yoakam taught at Barton Middle School in Buda, TX, teaching primarily beginner woodwinds. She then served as the Advocacy and Educational Resources Coordinator at Music for All, Inc. in Indianapolis. Ms. Yoakam then spent five years as an assistant band director at Liberty High School in Frisco, TX. She is actively involved with Music for All, where you’ll find her greeting marching bands in parking lots across the country, and serving as Coordinator for the SWAG Team at the Bands of America Summer Camp in Muncie, IN.

Ms. Yoakam was a drum major for the Union Renegade Regiment, drum major for the North Texas Green Brigade Marching Band, and conductor for the Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps. She is extremely excited to return to the Regiment family!