Twenty-nine members from the Class of 2025 have been named as National Merit Scholarship program semifinalists based on each student’s PSAT/NMSQT scores the organization announced today. Only 16,000 student entrants nationwide received semi-finalist status out of over 1.3 million students from 21,000 high schools nationwide who entered.
“Our students are well prepared for national testing, and we are honored to have so many of our seniors recognized as National Merit semi-finalists,” said Veronica Pulido, Al G. Hill, Jr. ’63 Director of College Counseling. “I am fortunate to work with such an amazing group of talented individuals who shine academically and make their mark in our community,”
The following seniors from the Class of 2025 have been named as semifinalists: Zachary Andrews, Carson Bosita, Matthew Bybee, Surya Dinesh, Austin Dunbar, Theodore Fleiss, Noah Grant, Neel Jain, Andrew Jin, Linyang Lee, Luke Lemons, Wyatt Loehr, Shyam Maddukuri, Akash Manickam, Jeremy Mau, Akul Mittal, Adithya Munshi, Jaden Ouyang, Deven Pietrzak, Arjun Poi, Samuel Posten, Hilton Sampson, Daniel Sun, Joseph Sun, Andrew Xuan, Max Yan, Junkai Yang, Neil Yepuri, and Ethan Zhang.
“Becoming a National Merit Semifinalist is a highly selective honor and a credit to the dedication, commitment, and academic preparation of every one of these boys,” said David W. Dini, Eugene McDermott Headmaster. “Striving for excellence in and out of the classroom is an important part of the journey toward manhood and helps prepare our students for a life of substance and positive impact.”
These academically recognized Marksmen have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,140 National Merit scholarships 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. About 95 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and more than half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.
In addition to these semifinalists, 28 seniors from the Class of 2025 were named Commended Scholars: Samuel Babilla, Jack Baker, Gavin Bowles, Maddox Canham, Benjamin Chen, Daniel Deng, Henry Estes, David Gershenson, Burke Gordon, Christopher Han, Matthew Hofmann, Johnathan Householder, David Hurley, Sebastian Illum, Brandon Kim, Jacob Lobdell, Aidan Moran, William Morrow, Eduardo Mousinho, Lukas Palys, Rahil Panchbhaya, Henry Roden, Aaron Schildkraut, David Tate, Dylan Taylor, John Tholking, Jackson Williams, and Zachary Yang.
Seven members of the Class of 2025 also received honors from the College Board National Recognition Program. This recognition is given for their academic achievements in school and outstanding performance on the PSAT/NMSQT, PSAT 10 and/or AP exams.
Students recognized include Lawrence Gardner, National African American Recognition Award (NAARA); Matthew Jordan, NAARA; Aidan Moran, National Hispanic Recognition Award (NHRA); Mateu Parker, NHRA; Alden Reagins, NAARA; Dylan Taylor, NHRA; and Mateo Ubiñas, NHRA.