Dozens Of Lower Merion Students Named Merit Scholarship Semifinalists

LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP, PA — Dozens of local students have been named semifinalists in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship program.

These students are among 16,000 semifinalists who are in the running for some 6,870 National Merit scholarships worth nearly $26 million that will be offered next spring.

To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, 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 about half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.

Below are local semifinalists:

Ardmore

Fusion Academy

• Natalie Polsky

Lower Merion High School

• Sam Donagi
• Talia Earl
• Yicheng Long
• Daniel Oltman
• Miro Raj
• Joy Rao
• Andrew Slattery
• Ronan Zevan

Merion Station

Kohelet Yeshiva High School

• Noam D. Gold

Wynnewood

Friends Central School

• Milan Carpiniello
• Luke Halpern
• Sean Scott
• Andrew Yu

Bryn Mawr

Baldwin School

• Amelia Dennis
• Elanor Forbes
• Summer He
• Ananya Kaushal
• Katie McCullough
• Allison Meng
• Leela Rajagopal
• Avani Shah-Lipman
• Greyson Walko
• Georgia Whamond
• Brooke Woo
• Mindy Zhang

The Shipley School

• Anne X. Gu
• Ruiqi Liu
• Orli Rabinowitz

Bala Cynwyd

Mestivta High School of Greater Philadelphia

• Daniel Schneider

Rosemont

Harriton High School

• Sarthak Chaudhuri
• Jayne Chen
• Ella Dotan
• Catherine Fan
• Roha Herial
• Rebecca Ives
• Alexandra Juhasz
• Jack Kallen
• Ethan Karten
• Margot Norman
• Kyler Parker
• Ariana Pavri
• Philippos Pratsos
• Adrian Proca
• William Reisner
• Eileen Rong
• Ethan Ruderman
• Lucy Sun
• Andrew Wald

Agnes Irwin School

• Samantha Pierce

To become a finalist, the semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the semifinalist’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 earlier 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 in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference.

National Merit Scholarship winners of 2025 will be announced in April and July next year.