School Counselor Veronica Melei, Aidan Tau, Sean Nixon, Ella Maurice, Principal Michelle Kefford Elle Naqvi and Melissa Azzarito
Five current Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students have made it to the list of semifinalists in the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
They are Analyse A. Armstrong, Melissa Azzarito, Ella C. Maurice, Elle Makena Naqvi, Sean Nixon, and Aidan Tau. According to school officials, Armstrong no longer attends Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
These 16,000 high school seniors and semifinalists can continue in the competition 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 approximately half will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.
Founded in 1955, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation is a non-profit organization that oversees this program. It collaborates with nearly 320 businesses and higher education institutions, pooling resources to celebrate and support the country’s top academic achievers.
Over 1.3 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state.
Three varieties of scholarships will be disbursed in 2025. These include 2,500 National Merit $2,500 Scholarships allocated on a state-representational basis, around 840 corporate-sponsored awards, and approximately 3,800 college-sponsored awards by about 160 higher education institutions.
The final 2025 National Merit Scholars list will be made public in a series of nationwide announcements from April to July, adding to the legacy of nearly 382,000 Merit Scholars.
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