Seven Arlington students are among the 16,000 semifinalists in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program.
All from Arlington High School, they are John R. Archibald, Boe Z. Bendezu, Anderson C. Cheung, Zachary A. Girash, Virginia J. Kyle, Miriam Lubashev and Isaac A. Paget.
In a news release, the National Merit Scholarship Corp. (NMSC) reported Sept. 11 that these academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 6,870 National Merit Scholarships, worth nearly $26 million, that will be offered next spring. A winner takes home a $2,500 award.
To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition. About 95 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and approximately half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.
The not-for-profit NMSC, operated without government assistance, has been running its scholarship program since 1955. Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by about 280 business organizations, higher education institutions and individual donors who share NMSC’s goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.
Steps in the competition
The corporation reported more than 1.3 million juniors entered the 2025 scholarship competition by taking the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). The nationwide pool of semifinalists, which represents less than 1 percent of U.S. all high-school seniors, includes the highest-scoring test-takers in each state.
To become a finalist, each semifinalists and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.
The scholarship winners are expected to announced between April and July 2025.
Aug. 30, 2024: Town resident wins national merit scholarship
This news announcement was published Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, based on information from the National Merit Scholarship Corp. It was prepared by Kim Haase, YourArlington volunteer.
