2025 National Merit Semifinalists

September 10, 2024

Five Bishop Kelley Seniors Named National Merit Semifinalists!

SEMIFINALISTS IN THE 2025 NATIONAL MERIT® SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

(Evanston, Illinois) Today officials of National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC®) announced the names of more than 16,000 Semifinalists in the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship Program, including the following Bishop Kelley High School students:

Micah Cutsinger

Noah Hart

Elisabeth McIntosh

Daniel Papa

Divya Thomas

These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 6,870 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. About 95 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and approximately half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title.

NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 280 business organizations, higher education institutions, and individual donors that share NMSC's goals of honoring the nation's scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.

Steps in the 2025 Competition

Over 1.3 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state's percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

To become a Finalist, the Semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the Semifinalist's academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. 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.

From over 16,000 Semifinalists, more than 15,000 are expected to advance to the Finalist level, and in February they will be notified of this designation. All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from this group of Finalists. Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference.

National Merit Scholarships

Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2025. Every Finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit® $2500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state-representational basis. About 770 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be provided by approximately 130 corporations and business organizations for Finalists who meet their specified criteria, such as children of the grantor's employees or residents of communities where sponsor plants or offices are located. In addition, about 150 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 3,600 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.

National Merit Scholarship winners of 2025 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join more than 382,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.

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2025 Summer Mission Trip Recap

November 17, 2025

This past summer, God blessed me with the incredible opportunity to go on the Campus Ministry mission trip to Nashville, Tennessee. Going into the trip, I had no idea what to expect. When we arrived in Nashville, I was placed in a group of people I had never met before. We were all from different states, with completely different backgrounds. This was definitely a little bit outside of my comfort zone. But, from that very first day, I realized that God had put me in that group for a reason. We quickly grew close through working together and commuting on the hour drive to our work site, praying and sharing stories of faith on the drive. Our service project assignment was repairing a house for a woman named Lavern. There, we repaired and painted her shutters, front door, and porch. We cleaned her gutters, organized and got rid of unnecessary things in her shed, chopped down bushes and trees, trimmed overgrowth, and even did some drywall repair inside of her house. She was one of the kindest people I have ever met - so full of gratitude and joy, even in difficult circumstances. Every morning when we showed up to work, she greeted us with a smile and words of encouragement. Seeing her faith and positivity really opened my eyes to how powerful gratitude can be. Throughout the week, we had Mass every single morning. Starting my morning with Mass made my days full of joy and gratitude. We also had different activities at night, such as Eucharistic Adoration and confession. I had no idea how much these moments of prayer would affect me, but they did significantly. I had never truly experienced God in the way I did the evening of Adoration. Sitting in Adoration with everyone quietly singing and taking time just to be still with God was one of the most peaceful and powerful experiences I have ever had. There was also a woman who gave us a talk every evening. Her talks helped us to reflect on our faith and our purpose. Her words helped me to think more deeply about how God is present not just in the big events, like the Mission Trip, but in every single part of my life, the good and the bad, the joys and sorrows, and the wins and the losses. As the week started to end, I felt closer to God than I ever had before. And even though my air mattress deflated every single night and the showers were absolutely freezing, this trip reminded me that faith is not just something that we practice on Sundays, it is something that we live out through service, community, and love for others every single day. It showed me that when we step outside of our comfort zones and open our hearts, God meets us there and transforms us in ways that we would have never imagined. This Mission Trip did not just change the house that we worked on, it changed me. It deepened my faith, strengthened my trust in God, and helped me see how powerful it can be when we serve others with joy and humility. I would like to leave you all with one thing: At the end of the week, Lavern wrote me a letter. When I opened it, it read, “Write the vision and make it plain.” Now, if I am being honest, when I first read this, I was super confused, so I looked it up. What I found was amazing. This is a Bible Verse, Habakkuk 2:2, that means writing down your vision is a way to show God that you believe He will help you accomplish what He has called you to do. So BK, write the vision, and make it plain .