Twenty-nine students from Arlington have been named semifinalists in the 71st annual National Merit Scholarship Competition, according to an announcement earlier this week by the National Merit Scholarship Program. The program recognizes top-scoring entrants in each state, with semifinalists representing less than one percent of seniors nationwide.
These Arlington students are among 16,000 semifinalists selected from over 1.3 million juniors who took the 2024 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). The semifinalists will be eligible to compete for approximately 6,930 Merit Scholarship awards totaling $26 million.
The Arlington semifinalists include Lukian Yuzvenko from Arlington Tech; Anna Brodksy, William Eggert, Zachary Gilbreth, Eleanor Mahshie, Abraham Roisman and TuanCuong Vu from H-B Woodlawn; Owen Anderson, Isabella DeFillippi, Kierna Forman, Gabriel Irizarry, Kedar Kambhampaty, Caroline Lee, Raphael Quarles and Devesh Thernstrom from Washington-Liberty High School; and Sarah Kinzer, Sarah Rafi, Samuel Selinger, Emily Snelbecker and Ronan Vora from Yorktown High School.
Additionally, Jacqueline Ake, Breanne Graham, Kyungsup Hwang, Theodore Hwang, Zella Mantler, Bailey Piper, Sophia Stidman, Henry Stievater and Alaina Szeto—students attending Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) in Fairfax—have also been named National Merit semifinalists. TJHSST is a Governor’s School for Science and Technology located in Fairfax County that serves several counties including Arlington. Tuition costs for Arlington students at TJHSST are paid by Arlington Public Schools.
“Merit Scholar designees must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by the school principal, and earn SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier qualifying test performance. They also must demonstrate participation and leadership in school and community activities, and exhibit potential for success in rigorous college studies.”
Three types of scholarships will be offered in spring 2026: National Merit $2500 Scholarships awarded on a state-representational basis; about 830 corporate-sponsored awards funded by corporations or business organizations with specific eligibility criteria; and approximately 3,600 college-sponsored awards financed by colleges or universities for finalists planning to attend those institutions.
Winners of the National Merit Scholarships will be announced through four national news releases between April and July of 2026. Recipients will join more than 389,000 individuals who have previously earned the title of Merit Scholar.
