The National Merit Scholarship Program has recognized four Mercersburg Academy students as semifinalists and eight as commended students for their performance on the 2024 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).

Mercersburg’s semifinalists are Sean Flaherty of Kensington, MD, Wenxuan “Elise” Gao ’26 of Beijing, China, Audrey Hua ’26 of Guilford, CT, and Michael Zhang ’26 of Charleston, SC.

Mercersburg’s commended students are Andrew Chang ’26 of Kirkland, WA, Jason Chu ’26 of Hoboken, NJ, Manika Dalai ’26 of Singapore, Christine Jiang ’26 of Atherton, CA, Kelsey Li ’26 of Quebec, Canada, Seungjin “Sophie” Oh ’26 of Fort Lee, NJ, Lisa Wei ’26 of Princeton, NJ, and Siqi “Jolie” Zhu ’26 of Beijing, China. 

“We are pleased to recognize the achievements of our talented students in the National Merit Scholarship Program,” said Associate Head of School for School Life Julie Stojak Maurer ’90, P ’18, ’20, ’22, ’23, ’28.  “Having 12 students commended for their performance on the national administration of the PSAT is an incredible accomplishment. We are so proud of all of them.”

The semifinalists have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 6,930 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million that will be offered next spring. About 95 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and about half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title. 

While commended students will not continue in the 2026 competition for National Merit Scholarship awards, they are being recognized for academic promise because they placed among the top 50,000 students who took the 2024 PSAT.