The seniors finished among the top 50,000 students out of more than 1.5 million students who participated in the competition in this round.

Kimberly Anderson, senior principal at Notre Dame Prep, announced today that six high school seniors have been named “Comended Students” in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program. The principal presented these academically gifted high school seniors with a letter of recommendation from the school and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), which administers the program.

Notre Dame Prep graduates Cecilia Belej, Sehaj Gill, Geralyn Nguyen, Nate Seaman, Vincenzo Tartaglia and Christina Yeras ranked in the top 50,000 of more than 1.5 million students who qualified for the 2025 competition by taking the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).

The NMSC identifies the top 50,000 students and approximately 34,000 students are recognized as “Comended Students” based on their high scores and exceptional academic achievements.

“The students recognized as Honorable Students have demonstrated outstanding potential for academic success,” said an NMSC spokesperson. “These students represent a valuable national resource; recognizing their achievements, as well as the key role their schools play in their academic development, is critical to promoting educational quality in our country. We hope this recognition will help expand their educational opportunities and encourage them to continue their pursuit of academic success.”

More about NMSC:
NMSC is a nonprofit organization founded in 1955 specifically to administer the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. The scholarships are funded by NMSC through its own resources and by approximately 440 business organizations and institutions of higher education that share NMSC’s goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic excellence and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.

The National Merit Scholarship Program honors individual students who demonstrate exceptional academic ability and potential for success in challenging college studies. For more information about the competition, visit www.nationalmerit.org.

More than 1.5 million eleventh-grade students from nearly 21,000 high schools have registered for the 2025 National Merit Scholarship program by taking the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as the initial selection of program participants.