Three Willowbrook seniors named as Semifinalists in 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program

Willowbrook seniors Olivia Gwaltney, Ashar Hussain and Oscar Ramirez have been named as Semifinalists in the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) recently announced the names of more than 16,000 Semifinalists, who have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 6,870 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition.

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 (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

To become a Finalist, the Semifinalist 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. For more information, go to www.nationalmerit.org.