The National Merit® Scholarship Corporation named Shubh Patel and Carter Tollman, seniors at Mill Valley High School, and De Soto High School senior Austin Chase, as Semifinalists in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists represent less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors and includes the high-scoring entrants in each state.

To become a National Merit® Scholarship finalist, each Semifinalist will provide information about their academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, honors and awards received. A Semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout their high school career, provide a recommendation from a high school official and write a personal essay as part of the national competition. These academically talented seniors will learn if they advance to the Finalist level in February 2025.

The finalists learn if they are a 2025 National Merit® Scholarship winner beginning starting April through July. In the National Merit® Scholarship Program, three types of scholarship awards are offered to Finalists: National Merit $2500 Scholarships, corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards, and college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards. In addition to these three awards, Special Scholarships are awarded to outstanding students who are not Finalists but meet a corporate sponsor's criteria. These scholarship recipients will join more than 382,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.

Congratulations to all three of these outstanding students!