Congratulations to the Spartans who advanced as National Merit Scholarship Program Finalists.

All nine St. Stephen’s students who earned National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists status in the fall, were named Finalists this spring in the National Merit Scholarships competition.

Congratulations go to Chris Chang ’25, Lainey Leslie ’25, Kevin Li ’25, Simon Meyers ’25, Susan Moseley ’25, Zach Prager ’25, Alejandro Seal ’25, Audrey Wan ’25 and Claire Wan ’25.

These Spartans were part of a pool of 15,000 high school students across the country who fulfilled several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. From this advanced stage, only 2,500 of the Finalists are chosen as National Merit $2500 Scholarship winners. 

Twin sisters Audrey and Claire Wan were each awarded a $2500 prize from Nvidia Corporation, based on a strong combination of academic achievements, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies. 

Read more about the Wan sisters
Read more about the 24 Spartans who earned Commended Student Honors

National Merit Scholarship Program

The National Merit $2500 Scholarship winners are the Finalists in each state and are judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills and potential for success in rigorous college studies. The number of winners named in each state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the nation’s graduating high school seniors. These Scholars were selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors, who appraised a substantial amount of information submitted by both the Finalists and their high schools: the academic record, including difficulty level of subjects studied and grades earned; scores from the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®); contributions and leadership in school and community activities; an essay written by the Finalist; and a recommendation written by a high school official.

Last fall, the highest-scoring participants in each state, representing less than one percent of the nation’s high school seniors, were named Semifinalists on a state-representational basis.

Congratulations to all Spartan Finalists!