4 Haverford Students Named National Merit Scholarship Winners

HAVERFORD, PA — Several Haverford students have been named winners of National Merit scholarships.

Three Haverford High School students, and a student from Haverford who attends the Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr, were recently announced winners in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program.

Each have secured a $2,500 scholarship

These students are among 2,500 Merit Scholar designees chosen from a pool of more than 15,000 students.

Below are local winners

• Maxim Omelan Markiw, of Ardmore, Haverford High School — Probable career field: International Relations
• Georgia Jane Whamond, of Haverford, Baldwin School — Probable career field: Psychiatry
• Samuel Graaf, Havertown, Haverford High School — Probable career field: Geology
• Jorge Tecedor, Havertown, Haverford High School — Probable career field: Biomedical Engineering

This year’s National Merit Scholarship Program began in October 2023 when high school juniors took the PSAT/NMSQT, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. 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.

More than 16,000 semifinalists had an opportunity to continue in the competition.

From the semifinalist group, over 15,000 students met the very high academic standards and other requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition.

By the conclusion of the 2025 program, more than 6,930 finalists will have earned the “Merit Scholar” title and received a total of nearly $26 million in college scholarships.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was founded in 1955 specifically to conduct the National Merit Scholarship Program. The majority of scholarships offered each year are underwritten by approximately 280 independent corporate and college sponsors that share the corporation's goals of honoring scholastically talented youth and encouraging academic excellence at all levels of education.