Dozens Of Pittsburgh Students Named Merit Scholarship Semifinalists

PITTSBURGH, PA — Several dozens students at a number of Pittsburgh schools have been named
alists 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.

Here are the semifinalists and their respective schools:

AVONWORTH

• Emma Noss

BETHEL PARK

• James Sipe

• Lyla Walsh

CENTRAL CATHOLIC

• Ryan Jameson

FOX CHAPEL AREA

• David Black

• Anna Delale-O'Connor

• Benjamin Fiedler

• Rayna Huang

• Arnim Kuchhal

• Zhana Neumann

• Rohit Velankar

GATEWAY

• Ethan Grieve Lindblad

• Darren Johnson

HAMPTON

• Carolyn Clutter

• Nathan Gardner

THOMAS JEFFERSON

• Reagan Sanderson

MOUNT LEBANON

• Colin Doran

• Elsa Haywiser

• Jude Kashlan

• Cara Lotter

• Lucian Mikush

• Sofia Pan

• Mason Pettyman

• Thomas Ranney

• Clara Sun

PINE-RICHLAND

• Sean Burk

• Heath Cwynar

• Thomas DeVito

• Charlie Ozelski

• Timothy Peng

PITTSBURGH TAYLOR ALLDERDICE

• Raphael Rothstein

• Finn Swartzwelder

PLUM

• Dhruv Thakkar

QUAKER VALLEY H. S.

• Ryan Steinfurth

• Samuel Whitacre

• Henry Zutter

SHADY SIDE ACADEMY

• Ryan Babeo

• Jeffrey Brunner

• Ethan Hou

• Ethan Hrach

• Anya Jain

• Tommy Kann

• Avery Litwin

• Kexin Zhao

SETON - LA SALLE

• Patrick Weldon

SOUTH FAYETTE

• Andrew Carson

• Rohith Galla

• Dhruv Kithany

• Srishti Swaminathan

THOMAS JEFFERSON

• Reagan Sanderson

TRINITY CHRISTIAN

• Luke Douglas

• Peter Holt

WINCHESTER THURSTON

• Andrew Shlomchik