National Merit Semifinalists/Commended Students Named

Ten Fox Chapel Area High School seniors have been designated as National Merit Semifinalists, and 17 have been named Commended Students in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program. The Semifinalists from Fox Chapel Area High School are Michael Costello, Riley Hemingray, Alan Jiang, Eloise Johnson, Ulyana Kubini, Joanna Li, Gavin Lynch, Rodrigo Silva, Yash Tahiliani, and Helen Xu. The Commended Students from Fox Chapel Area High School are Marin Airik, Arman Alborzi, Tobias Conklin, Greta Erdner, Laila Golla, Charles Hahl, Nora Kelley, Steven Li, James Manges, Max Melocchi, August Mierwald, Dayna Mullan, Zehra Ozkaya, Zachary Rubin, Joshua Shah, Joseph Shin, and Ian Wellman.

All of these students were selected based on their 2024 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 some 6,930 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million to be offered in the spring of 2026.