Semifinalists in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program Named

The 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program named 8 Choate sixth form students among the more than 16,000 semifinalists in the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship competition. The students, along with home city and state, are Emma C. Bowles, Charlotte, N.C.; James W. Denison, Austin, Texas; Sarina D. Fernandez-Grinshpun, Mountain View, Calif.; Nilan Kathir, Cheshire, Conn.; Peisong Li, Beijing, China; Celeste M. Shattuck, Charlotte, N.C.; Alexander C. Wang, West Hartford, Conn.; and Jingyuan Zhang, Wallingford, Conn.

These students may now continue to compete for some 6,870 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), established in 1955 to conduct the program, says, “Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 280 business organizations, higher education institutions, and individual donors that share NMSC’s goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.