Seniors At Reston, Herndon Schools Named National Merit Semifinalists

RESTON, VA — Seven students from Herndon and Reston schools were named semifinalists in the next round of National Merit Scholarships in 2025.

The National Merit Scholarship program recognizes academically successful high school students, with winners representing less than 1 percent of the country's high school seniors. In the 70th annual program, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation has named more than 16,000 finalists.

Over 1.3 million students in 21,000 U.S. high schools were entered into the National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2023 PSAT as juniors. The semifinalists were the highest-scoring students in each state and represent less than 1 percent of high school seniors. The number chosen from each state is proportional to its share of graduating seniors in the U.S.

Semifinalists are grouped by the town or city in which they attend school. The Herndon and Reston students named as semifinalists are:

Dominon School

• Matthew Walls

Herndon High School

• Harold S. Kim

Ideaventions Academy of Math and Science

• Shivam Patel
• Ari Stehney

South Lakes High Schools

• Emily Conway
• Aneesh A. Mandapati
• Andrew W. Wood

Around 15,000 semifinalists are expected to be named finalists. To be considered for finalist status, semifinalists and a high school official must complete a scholarship application with details on the academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. The semifinalists must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn an SAT or ACT score reinforcing their qualifying PSAT score.

National Merit Scholarship winners will be chosen from the list of finalists. Winners are selected based on their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. There will be 2,500 National Merit $2500 Scholarships awarded, as well as around 770 corporate-sponsored awards and about 3,600 college-sponsored awards. Winners will be announced from April to July in 2025.

To date, more than 382,000 students have won Merit Scholar Scholarships.