On September 11, 2024, officials of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced the names of more than 16,000 Semifinalists in the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
Congratulations to Ithaca High School students Isaac Albrecht, Ivalee Bascom, Alexandra Elia, Samuel Harris, Kai Imani, Mark Kiefer, Taran Knutson, Valentina Lebret, Brenna Lucio Belbase, Celene Sahoo, Caedmon Sethupathy, Tilden Smith, Milo Walder, and Jiefei Zhao.
These academically talented high school seniors, having achieved impressive scores on the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 6,870 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million that will be offered next spring.
To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. About 95 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to obtain Finalist standing, and approximately half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.