(Kennett Square, Pa.) – The National Merit Scholarship Corporation recently announced that 18 Unionville High School students have been named Semifinalists in the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program. The National Merit Scholarship Program honors individual students who show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies.

"We are proud to announce that 18 of our exceptional students have been named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists,”  stated Dr. Amy Jenkins, UHS Principal. “This remarkable achievement is a testament to their unwavering dedication to academic excellence, their insatiable thirst for knowledge, and the incredible support of our dedicated educators. These students are shining examples of the bright future that lies ahead for our community. We congratulate them on this well-deserved recognition and look forward to witnessing their continued success as they embark on their educational journeys.”

Approximately 16,000 Semifinalists were named in the 69th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. 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. 

The National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships in which students are entered by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) - one that serves as an initial screen of program entrants each year. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. This includes providing information about their academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. 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.

Congratulations to all of this year’s honorees:
April Chou
Blake Ellsworth
David Hendrix
Bridget Hoban
Grace Jiang
Steffanie Jones
Emily Ran
Marguerite Richardson
Janhavi Rotkar
Sreyas Sai
Adhavan Satish
Luke Stokes 
Arjun Suryawanshi
Michael Ta
Cherry Wu
Sreevarshini Yedidao
Lilly Zhang
Esther Zhou

About the National Merit Scholarship Program:
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 1% of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number of Semifinalist in a state proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

To become a finalist, the Semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the Semifinalis’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 early performance on the qualifying test.

From over 16,000 Semifinalists,  more than 15,000 are expected to advance to the Finalist level, and in February they will be notified of this designation. All national merit scholarship winners will be selected from this group of Finalists. Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success and rigorous college studies, without regard to gender race, ethnic origin or religious preference.