Peddie Scores High with Eight National Merit Scholar Semifinalists

Eight Peddie seniors have earned the honor of National Merit Scholar Semifinalists and have advanced for eligibility to be named finalists in spring.

“All eight of Peddie’s National Merit Semifinalists should be extremely proud of this recognition and each of them submitted outstanding NMSC Competition applications which include accomplishments both in and out of the Peddie classroom. Their initial performances on the NMSC qualifying exam and their extraordinary academic and co-curricular achievements highlight the transformational educational experience at Peddie,” said Director of College Counseling Joseph Rulewich.

Celina Chevres, Arjun Chityala, Lue Fang, Ananya Hari, Amanda Harmon, Matthew Luo, Rishi Shah and Evan Xu all qualified as semifinalists by taking the 2023 SAT or the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, and receiving the highest PSAT/NMSQT Selection Index scores.

Finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program are recognized and have a chance to  receive a scholarship for their undergraduate degree. Over 1.3 million students enter the program each year, with only approximately 7,580 receiving scholarships.

Additionally, 37 Peddie students have been recognized as National Merit Commended Students, surpassing last year’s record number of 32 Commended Students within a graduating class.