The National Merit Scholarship Corporation named seven members of the Providence Day class of 2025 National Merit Semifinalists.

Seniors Daniel Behrman, Liza Grimes, Lisa Liu, Ethan Mudd, Carson Orner, Nikhil Patel, and Rishil Saxena earned the recognition based on their exceptional scores on the 2024 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

16,000 students receive this honor nationwide, representing the top one percent of all high school seniors in each state.

“After 18 years, you'd think I'd be used to the excellent students here at Providence Day, but that is never the case,” says Jack Whelan, Providence Day’s Director of College Guidance. “This batch of National Merit and National Recognition students are being awarded for their outstanding standardized test scores, but that is only the tip of the iceberg, as they also excel in class, on stage, on the sports fields, and as community volunteers.”

Once students are named semifinalists, they must submit applications to become finalists. The process involves an essay, a recommendation written by a college counselor, and, most importantly, a record of every class taken in high school and the grades earned in those classes.

Finalists will be awarded scholarships, and winners of the scholarships will be announced in April and May.

The National Merit Scholarship Organization also has recognized 16 members of the class of 2025 as Commended Students based on their outstanding PSAT scores. Those students include: Ava Beninati, Sarah Bledsoe, Andrew Chin, Elizabeth Diman, Robert Dunlap, Dev Dwivedy, Catherine Dwyer, Ansley Hitt, Maximus Hoody, Stephanie Li, Sahana Mantha, Henry Martin, Blane McElroy, Wyatt Olliff, Aashir Sura, and Anish Vedantham.

Several Providence Day students have been honored by the College Board’s National Recognition Program. The academic honors are given to high-performing, underrepresented students. The College Board has five national recognition programs: the National African American/Black Recognition Program, the National First-Generation Recognition Program, the National Hispanic Recognition Program, the National Indigenous Recognition Program, and the National Rural and Small Town Recognition Program.

The following Providence Day juniors and seniors have received the awards: Sydney Allen, Liles Kendall, Coley Roberson, Gelila Sisay, and Payton Thompson won National African American/Black awards; Isabel Hsu, Charlotte Kraus, and Austin Nelson won National Hispanic/Latino awards; Caleb Joel, Carson Orner, Bunary Sum, and Skylar Wright won National First Generation awards; and Vanessa Brandt won both the National First Generation and National Hispanic/Latino awards.