Eight Rye High School students were selected as semi-finalists for the National Merit Scholarship Program, the school district announced.
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced the names of more than 16,000 Semifinalists in the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Rye’s representation included Bill Chen, Andrew Chun, Alexander (Alex) Gordon, Kiran Gounden-Kobes, Andrea Kamander, Haley Kloepfer, Timothy O’Donnell, and Juliet Rotondo.
“We are extremely proud of the eight students who have earned this distinction this year,” Rye High School Principal Andrew Hara and assistant principals Christina Cannon and Mark Mayer said in a joint statement. “These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 6,870 National Merit Scholarships.”
The scholarships are worth nearly $26 million that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, semi-finalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition.
About 95 percent of the semi-finalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and approximately half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.
NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
More than 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, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semi-finalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state.
To become a finalist, the semi-finalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the Semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. A Semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.
From more than 16,000 semi-finalists, more than 15,000 are expected to advance to the finalist level, and in February they will be notified of this designation.
Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference.
National Merit Scholarship winners of 2025 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July.
