6 Named National Merit Semifinalists

Six Fox Chapel Area High School seniors have been designated as National Merit Semifinalists and 18 have been named Commended Students in the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program. The Semifinalists from Fox Chapel Area High School are Zachary Chan, Nathan Chu, Brynn Gamblin, Simon Goode, Adam Nimr, and Ozlem Sayrak. The Commended Students from Fox Chapel Area High School are Max Choset, Ella Ettinger, Grant Fenton, Ainsley Goode, Zhanyu Jiang, William Kelly, Rachel Kim, Tristan Kobylinski, David Kong, Mikhail Lukichev, Sofia Melani, Georgy Pistsov, Rayyan Saidi, Aislynn Senn, Taylor Stocker, Altrian Story, Leonidas Vandapel, and Gabriel Yassin.

All of these students were selected based on their 2025 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) scores. Each year, more than 1.3 million juniors complete the PSAT/NMSQT and are automatically entered in the National Merit Scholarship Program. Approximately 16,000 advance to become Semifinalists and about 34,000 are Commended. The Semifinalists represent less than 1% of the nation’s high school seniors, and the Commended Students scored in the top 5%. 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. Semifinalists must also participate in school and community activities, demonstrate leadership abilities, and receive other awards and honors. The Commended Students are recognized for their exceptional academic promise. 

The Semifinalists now have the opportunity to advance to the Finalist level and compete for 6,700 National Merit Scholarships worth approximately $24 million to be offered in the spring of 2027.