6 Cherry Hill Students Named National Merit Scholar Semifinalists

CHERRY HILL, NJ — Six students from Cherry Hill were named semifinalists in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program.

More than 16,000 high school seniors across the country were named semifinalists for the academically prestigious honor last week. The students have a chance to continue in the competition for 6,930 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million.

Here are the Cherry Hill students who made the list:

Cherry Hill High School East

• Samuel W. Cronk
• Manya Gupta
• Max I. Kukafka
• Peter C. Moon
• Ronak M. Pathak

Camden Catholic High School

• Kuyill Ponnappan

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 around half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship.

More than 1.3 million juniors in about 20,000 high schools entered the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2024 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which serves as an initial screen of program entrants.

The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than 1 percent of current high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring students in each state.

To reach the finals, the semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application about the student's academic record, school and community activities and leadership qualities.

This year's National Merit Scholarships will be offered in the spring. Every finalist will compete for one of 2,500 scholarships worth $2,500.