National Merit Scholarship Program

Throughout the years, students in the district have excelled academically. Students who have achieved high academic accolades are honored by the National Merit Scholarship program. National Merit Scholarship Corporation holds an academic competition for students to recognize and even offer scholarships through this corporation. To enter the program, high school students must take the PSAT/ NMSQT. Students with the highest PSAT/NMSQT scores automatically qualify for recognition. There are four levels of recognition including, commended, semifinalist, finalist, and scholar.

Commended students receive a Letter of Commendation, recognizing their outstanding academic performance. These students, however, do not go on to the next level of competition. Commended students may be offered various special scholarships sponsored by businesses and corporations.

A semifinalist represents his or her state by holding the highest scores in his or her respective state. To advance to the finalist level, all semifinalists must hold high academic standards and various other requirements. The only way to be recognized for a National Merit Scholarship is to advance to the finalist level.

Over 15,000 semifinalists are selected to advance to the finalist level. Finalists are chosen based on their accomplishments, abilities, and skills. All National Merit Scholarship selectors review the student's academic record, school's grading system and curriculum, school officials' recommendations, two sets of test scores, student activities, and leadership and the student's essay.

Finally, over 8,000 finalists are selected to receive National Merit Scholarships. Other scholarships available are corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarships and college-sponsored Merit Scholarships.

Pine-Richland High School Recipients

2026

Mateen Hasan, Semifinalist
Deeya Nayyar, Semifinalist
Nicholas Annal, Commended
Sanika Das, Commended
Brooke Deegan, Commended
Megan DeKunder, Commended
Aaron Farrar, Commended
Cadence Foote, Commended
Maunish Jani, Commended
Alex Kastner, Commended
Faith Kellogg, Commended
Ryan Moore, Commended
Kelsey Neill, Commended
Brendan Plowey, Commended
Maya Rippole, Commended
Alexis Ross, Commended
Arrash Sheikh, Commended
Jonathan Sweet, Commended
Brady Wilson, Commended
Leah Wu, Commended

2025

Heath Cwynar, Scholar
Charlie Ozelski, Scholar
Sean Burk, Finalist
Thomas DeVito, Finalist
Tim Peng, Finalist
Colin Barrett, Commended
Vincent Bucek, Commended
Allen Chen, Commended
Katelyn Coyne, Commended
Prisha Dargan, Commended
Ian Hurt, Commended
Anna Karmanos, Commended
Bradan Lenz, Commended
Elena Morse, Commended
Edgar Spudic, Commended
William Tamburri, Commended

2024

Jocelyn Curreri, Scholar
Vasile Balouris, Finalist
Nicolai Ezolt, Finalist
Liam Francis, Finalist
Ben Lyons, Finalist
Andrew Thomas, Semifinalist
Mustafa Adeel, Commended
Udbhav Akolkar, Commended
Ryan Grebinoski, Commended
Ella Guo, Commended
Tamonash Karthikeyan, Commended
Chloe Kassalen, Commended
Jayden Lahoti, Commended
Michael Lattari, Commended
Alexander Melby, Commended
Ryland Nichols, Commended
Jay Schwierking, Commended
Eunice Son, Commended
Nelli Vaiko, Commended
Mantavya Vashishth, Commended
Annie Wu, Commended

2023

Luke Kastner, Scholar
Benjamin Rishel, Scholar
Andrew Salvadore, Scholar
Jacob Lukez, Finalist
Matthew Andersen, Commended
Joseph D. DeRenzo, Commended
Jack Duckworth, Commended
Jack J. Exline, Commended
Adam Kirsch, Commended
Avinash Kottakota, Commended
Nolan Martin, Commended
Sreyashi Mondal, Commended
Anjaly Palathunkal, Commended
Javin Parker, Commended
Elaine Qian, Commended
Elizabeth Shaffer, Commended
Benjamin Tamburri, Commended
John Varghese, Commended
Alexander Vasile, Commended
Colin Zvejnieks, Commended

2022

Kevin Frenz, Finalist
Ethan Jancy, Finalist
Nicholas Labuda, Finalist
Eliana Lazzaro, Finalist
Tadg Manna, Finalist
Andrew Ni, Finalist
Jeffrey Ock, Finalist
Anabel Peasah, Finalist
Amish Sethi, Finalist
Audrey Dekunder, Commended
Matthew Farmar, Commended
Christopher Fisher, Commended
Rand Hasan, Commended
Robert Helmsen, Commended
Patricia Holmes, Commended
Negein Immen, Commended
Ayden Lamparski, Commended
Colby Ohlund, Commended
Colin Ohlund, Commended
Justin Puthenpurayil, Commended
Jessica Stella, Commended
Callie Stoltz, Commended
Carolyn Williams, Commended

2021

Brendan Anderson, Finalist
John Faber, Finalist
Joshua Pazin, Finalist
Rebecca Peng, Finalist
Samuel Stella, Finalist
Benjamin Carnovale, Commended
Lydia Francis, Commended
Gregory Gilmour, Commended
Malini Harinath, Commended
Rori Holm, Commended
Evan Jackson, Commended
Jinwon Jang, Commended
Connor Johnson, Commended
Catherine Lee, Commended
Kareem Mohsen, Commended
Max Romano, Commended
Will Sangpachchatnaruk, Commended
Michael Tamburri, Commended
Abigail Turner, Commended
Victor Williams, Commended
Joseph Woodrow, Commended

2020

Daniel Krill, Finalist
Aidan Meyer, Finalist
Gina Sabol, Finalist
Justin Waltrip, Finalist
Jack Carnovale, Commended
Max Farino, Commended
Kang-Young Kim, Commended
Valerie Koester, Commended
Nathan Lukez, Commended
Olivia McGeary, Commended
Aidan Pavlick, Commended

2019

Luke Francis, Finalist
Devin Golla, Finalist
Amalendu Bokil, Commended
Ryan Farbacher, Commended
Jacob Garretson, Commended
Arjan Guglani, Commended
Jordan Labuda, Commended
Martha Lacek, Commended
Umayal Natesan, Commended
Mason Pruhs, Commended
John Reiland, Commended
Parker Schubert, Commended
Lucas Zak, Commended
Kevin Zhou, Commended

2018

Ryan Ahearn, Finalist
Chelsea Carver, Finalist
Nathan Chang, Finalist
Bruce Jia, Finalist
Mark Sethi, Finalist
Alyssa Bigley, Commended
Callista Carns, Commended
Charlotte Laubacher, Commended
Benjamin Martin, Commended
Keonwoo Park, Commended
Alexander Steger, Commended
Tyler Viljaste, Commended

2017

Richard Kwon, Semifinalist
Joshua Pantanowitz, Semifinalist
Kendall Pomerleau, Semifinalist
Juliano Avolio, Commended
Arushi Bandi, Commended
Bailey Core, Commended
Matthew Di, Commended
Andrew Gaffey, Commended
Adam Heeter, Commended
Amanda Labuda, Commended
John Michel, Commended
Alec Muchnok, Commended
Joseph Mullen, Commended
Julia Solomon, Commended
Kaitlyn Will, Commended

2016

Aidan Lakshman, Finalist
Kyra Laubacher, Finalist
William Newell, Finalist
Evan Stephenson, Finalist
Andrew Baxter, Semifinalist
Khaled Abdel Aziz, Commended
Nathan Carnovale, Commended
Lauren Donahoe, Commended
Madeline Hess, Commended
Hyunwoo Kim, Commended
Matthew Lacek, Commended
Sarah Libby, Commended
Matthew McLoughlin, Commended
Elizabeth Profozich, Commended
Hannah Reiling, Commended
Phillip Riggins, Commended
Matthew Ruediger, Commended
Monica Shope, Commended
Maxwell Skirpan, Commended

2015

Julia Herrle, Finalist
Jan Karol Kalinski, Finalist
Ryan Mann, Finalist
Jonathon Schubert, Finalist
Sean Anderson, Commended
Anya Chopra, Commended
Helen Guo, Commended
Thomas Krill, Commended
Makenna Laffey, Commended
Luke Miller, Commended
Allison Shepard, Commended

2014

Rachel Halliday, Finalist
Monica Lacek, Finalist
Jennifer Lott, Finalist
Lena Ogiwara, Finalist
Kyle Pomerleau, Finalist
Meher Babbar, Commended
Kristen Baxter, Commended
Lauren Brown, Commended
Sonali Dadoo, Commended
Sara Dugan, Commended
Tyler Fitzgerald, Commended
William Misback, Commended
Margaret Shope, Commended

2013

Natalie Blandino, Semifinalist
Hannah Christenson, Semifinalist
Marcus Colella, Semifinalist
Marissa Di, Semifinalist
Kasey Elkin, Semifinalist
Nicholas Jones, Semifinalist
Alianna Sanzi, Semifinalist
Amulya Yennam, Semifinalist
James Burgess, Commended
Catherine Chleboski, Commended
Angad Guglani, Commended
Sneha Iyer, Commended
Kevin Klingensmith, Commended
Olivia Marchionda, Commended
Jared Ohlund, Commended
Maria O’Keeffe, Commended
Christine Ostrosky, Commended
Bayne Royall, Commended

2012

Cameron Barnes, Finalist
Branden Glass, Finalist
Laura Herrle, Finalist
Evan Klei, Finalist
Brian McWilliams, Finalist
Ji-Ho Park, Finalist
Peter Pearson, Finalist
Lucas Axiotakis, Commended
Nisha Bhat, Commended
Samantha Bigley, Commended
Nigel Halliday, Commended
Kathryn Knapp, Commended
Jonathan Marks, Commended
Alexandra Marshall, Commended
Catherine McAnney, Commended
Michael Morrissey, Commended
Lauren Muchnok, Commended
Joni Mulvaney, Commended
Justin Olshavsky, Commended
Rebecca Olson, Commended
Taylor Perz, Commended

2011

Edward Misback, Finalist
Emily Smith, Finalist
Sowmya Yennam, Finalist
Michael Clouse, Commended
Zachary Dionise, Commended
Sarah Kuethe, Commended
Michael Matty, Commended
Daniel Nigh, Commended
Taylor Rains, Commended
Thomas Zerbe, Commended

2010

Ann N. Jacob, Finalist
Geoffrey P. King, Finalist
Curtis W. Mahoney, Finalist
Nicholas Donnelly, Commended
Derek Feger, Commended
Anne Graszl, Commended
Jennifer Jokl, Commended
Michelle Marano, Commended
Jennifer Soracco, Commended
Rebecca Stabile, Commended
Lauren Stanley, Commended
Alyssa Whittington, Commended

2009

Mark D. Beatty, Finalist
Daniel Bauer, Commended
William Cenk, Commended
Jacob Dowling, Commended
Meghan Marks, Commended
William Miller, Commended

2008

Julie M. Behr, Finalist
Sara E. Deuschle, Finalist
Brenna E. Jones, Finalist
Nicholas Y. Park, Finalist
Michelle Calabrese, Commended
Carolyn Deutsch, Commended
Travis Donnelly, Commended
Elizabeth George, Commended
Nithyapriya Ramalingam, Commended
Vincent Salpietro, Commended
Benjamin Whiting, Commended

2007

Kelsey Ballance, Commended
Natalie Bobek, Commended
Luke Ceurvorst, Commended
Adam Gigliotti, Commended
Kelsey Jones, Commended
Laura Keeley, Commended
Nagisa Kodama, Commended
Laura Langford, Commended
Ashwin Shinde, Commended
Nicholas Sirera, Commended

2006

Amanda M. Gentzel, Finalist
Alice Yu, Finalist
Katherine Behr, Commended
Erin Donnelly, Commended
Kevin Mohler, Commended
Brian Rudowski, Commended
Alyse Weaver, Commended
Alex Whiting, Commended

2005

Kevin F. Allgaier, Scholar
Gregory A. Blandino, Finalist
Erin M. Kapp, Scholar

2004

Meagan H. Chan, Finalist
Patrick J. Irvin, Scholar

2003

Emily J. Karrs, Scholar
Rachel L. Orler, Scholar
John Berry, Commended
Josh Lippert, Commended
Gina Londino, Commended
Anna Craig, Commended
Kalyn Kappelman, Commended
Justin Tackett, Commended

2002

Bethany V. Roxby, Semifinalist
Brieann Artz, Commended
Michelle Myers, Commended

2001

Branden Van Oss, Scholar

1998

Benjamin R. Campbell, Finalist
Tao P. Neuendorffer, Scholar
David M. Tarr, Finalist

1997

Cynthia L. Hammond, Finalist

1996

Sandra L. Graver, Finalist

1995

Todd M. Emmett, Scholar
Roland M. Reagan, Finalist

1994

Adam D. Jenner, Scholar

Richland High School Recipients

1990

Benjamin G. Sarver, Scholar
Chris Shefler, Semifinalist

1989

Holly L. Brenza, Finalist
David R. Greenwood, Scholar
Sean R. Holihan, Finalist

1985

Sylvanie Wallington, Scholar

1984

Jeffrey A. Cieslak, Scholar
Kirsten M. Ohearn, Finalist

1982

John V. Marsh, Finalist

1981

Richard J. Anderson, Finalist

1980

Edward C. Anderson, Finalist
Theodore S. Frick, Scholar

1979

Thomas A. Godfrey, Finalist
Janet R. Robertson, Scholar

1977

Glenn H. Chambers, Scholar
Brian K. Eddy, Finalist

1976

Mark S. Erikson, Scholar

1975

John C. Calhoun, Finalist
Neil D. Hesketh, Finalist
Erica M. Hill, Scholar
Chris F. Kemerer, Finalist

1974

Linda M. Carr, Finalist
David R. Gallup, Finalist
Richard L. Mann, Finalist

1973

Jennifer K. Lee, Finalist
Tara Lynn Steck, Semifinalist
Geral W. Weaver, Finalist

1971

Don W. Andrews, Scholar
Lynn E. Davidson, Finalist

1970

Russell P. Fleming, Finalist
Kenneth A. Kloes, Finalist

1969

Sally D. Griffen, Scholar
Mollie Weinert, Finalist

1968

Roger E. Latham, Finalist
Harry D. Maddock, Finalist

1967

Francis L. Miller, Finalist

1965

Robert L. Giel, Finalist
Janet B. Hnatuk, Finalist

1964

Jack G. Murray, Scholar

1963

Barbara K. Judd, Finalist
Gerry A. Soderquist, Finalist

1961

Steven A. Carlson, Finalist
Gregory K. Ingram, Finalist
F.H. Kirkpatrick, Jr., Finalist
Charles T. Royer, Finalist

1959

Robert Lyke, Finalist