According to an MVLA press release, forty-three seniors from the MVLA High School District have advanced to the semifinalist round of the National Merit Scholarship 2025 competition.
A total of 27 students from MVHS and 16 from LAHS were named among 16,000 total National Merit Scholarship semifinalists from around the country. The scholarship is provided by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, using data from the 2023 PSAT test given last year to current seniors.
“As always, MVLA is very proud of the accomplishments of its students,” Eric Volta, MVLA Superintendent, said. “National Merit Scholar recognition is one of those accomplishments that recognizes the top 1% of students’ scores on the PSAT. This is noteworthy and we congratulate these students on their academic prowess.”
Approximately 1.3 million juniors from 21,000 high schools nationwide entered the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) last fall, according to the NMSC.
Semifinalists are the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and represent fewer than one percent of the nation’s seniors. They can compete for some 6,870 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million offered next spring. Starting in April, students will find out if they are among those receiving corporate-sponsored scholarships. Announcements regarding the $2,500 National Merit Scholarships and college-sponsored scholarships will be made in May and June, respectively.
National Merit scholars are selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors who appraise a substantial amount of information submitted by the finalists and their high schools, including:
- Academic record
- The difficulty level of the subjects studied
- Grades earned
- Scores from the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test
- Contributions and leadership in school and community activities
- An essay written by the finalist
- A recommendation written by a high school official
The following students were named in a press release sent by MVLA on Thursday.
Mountain View High School
- Chainani, Yash
- Cheong, Arthur
- Copeland, Asher
- Eisenberg, Maya
- Fisch, Maxwell
- Hofmeister, Kenzo
- Jain, Arihant
- John, Naisha
- Kao, Carolyn
- Kirmse, Adam
- Kumpf, Alison
- Lawrence, Clara
- Lee, Gisella
- Lee, Kate
- Lin, Marisa
- Mathew, Meera
- McCauley, Helen
- Nishi, Thomas
- Ravishankar, Mia
- Rutherford, Hannah
- Ta, Valerie
- Tang, Ryan
- Walker, Michelle
- Weise, Atulya
- Wing, Ethan
- Xu, Alexander
- Yin, Ryan
Los Altos High School
- Agarwal, Devansh
- Aron, Dhruv
- Avrahami, Noam
- Chatwin, Piper
- Chung, Sarah
- Feldman, David
- Hui, Kaihon
- Jamieson, Audrey
- Johnson, Oscar
- Li, Sophie
- Lin, Timothy
- Ma, Kaden
- Peter, Theodore
- Samek, Benjamin
- Tang, Joshua
- Xu, Michael
*Information for this article was provided to the Oracle by an MVLA press release.