4 Manahawkin Teens Named 2025 National Merit Scholarship Finalists

MANAHAWKIN, NJ — Four students at schools in Manahawkin are among more than 16,000 nationwide named National Merit Scholarship Program Semifinalists, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced Wednesday.

These academically talented students will then compete for some 6,870 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million that will be offered next spring.

There are several requirements to become a Finalist. About 95 percent of Semifinalists are expected to become Finalists, and about half of those Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship and earn the name of Merit Scholar.

Local Semifinalists are as follows:

Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Science

• McCafferty, Zachary
• Zeh, Ryan

Southern Regional High School

• Prosperi, Nicholas
• Rupinski, Grant

More than 1.3 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), 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.

Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2025. Every Finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit $2,500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state-representational basis. About 770 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be provided by approximately 130 corporations and business organizations for Finalists who meet their specified criteria, such as children of the grantor’s employees or residents of communities where sponsor plants or offices are located. In addition, about 150 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 3,600 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.