See National Merit Semifinalists From Ardmore, Wynnewood

ARDMORE-WYNNEWOOD, PA — Semifinalists in the 69th annual National Merit Scholarship Program have been announced, and plenty of local students made the cut.

The semifinalists were announced Wednesday.

Among the more than 16,000 semifinalists are numerous local students.

Below are local students who have been named finalists:

Lower Merion High School

• Samuel L.Abella
• Lila M.Anafi
• Alan Chen
• Benjamin P. Cromer
• Grant C. Curry
• Nathan C. Donagi
• Simona R. Fisher
• Ava R. Grandwetter
• Nathan E. Grunfeld
• Brendan S. McGrew
• Luke B. Meyer
• Lela V. Miller
• Sasha K. Murray
• Oliver B. Nickerson
• Riley E. Noble
• Liam A. O'Connell
• Daniel A. Vossough
• Gideon S. Wolf
• David Zhou

Friends Central School

• Oliver Angert
• Jonathan R. Barsotti

These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,140 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28 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.

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.

Over 1.3 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants.

The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state.

The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

National Merit Scholarship winners of 2024 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July.