Senior George Harrod Named National Merit Semifinalist

George Harrod '25 named national merit semifinalist

The Dunham School is proud to announce that the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC®) has named George Harrod ’25 a National Merit Semifinalist. George now advances to compete for one of 6,870 National Merit Scholarships that will be awarded to academically talented high school seniors next spring.

To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. Approximately half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title.

More than 1.3 million high school juniors entered the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 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 from each state.

National Merit Scholarship winners for 2025 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July. If selected to receive a National Merit Scholarship, George will join a distinguished group of Dunham graduates, including Samay Mirpuri ’24, Jackson Ford ’23, Jake Rizzo ’23, Austin Stevens ’23, Joshua Harris ’22, Ciara Venable ’21, Parker Harris ’19, Luke Russell ’19, Alyssa Sharbaugh ’18, and Gabby Walker ’17.

NMSC 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, high education institutions, and individual donors that share NMSC’s goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.