Hoboken High School Student Is National Merit Scholar Semifinalist

HUDSON COUNTY, NJ — Each year, high-achieving students in New Jersey high schools look excitedly to see if they're among the semifinalists who will compete for a college scholarship of $2,000 per year or more.

The National Merit Scholarship Program creates a list each fall of thousands of students nationwide who scored well on the PSAT during their junior years. After students submit grades and other information, they're narrowed down to a group of finalists who get the chance to win the no-strings-attached scholarships.

On Sept. 11, the National Merit Scholarship Board released its new list of 2025 semifinalists.

Among them, Hoboken High School has one semifinalist: Madison Walia Peters.

Competitive Process

Peters, who is a volleyball star at the school, will now undergo a very competitive application process to try to become a finalist and a scholarship winners. The winners are normally announced in May.

This year, McNair High School in Jersey City, a magnet school, had six semifinalists. St. Peter's Prep had two, Kearny High School had one, High Tech High School had one, and Union City's Jose Marti STEM Academy had one.

(See which schools had winners in Bergen County here.)

Kearny and Hoboken High were the only two regular pubilc schools (without a special application process) in Hudson County that had a semifinalist.

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Read more about the National Merit Scholarship program here.