Twenty RL Boys Recognized in National Merit Scholar Competition

The National Merit Scholarship Program announced today the names of students in the Class of 2018, across the country, earning recognition for their academic achievement.  This year, 11 Roxbury Latin boys have been named National Merit Scholar semifinalists, and nine others have earned commendations from program officials.

In this 63rd annual National Merit Scholarship competition, semifinalists have the opportunity to become finalists and compete for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships, nationwide.  The awards are supported by the organization and approximately 450 businesses and educational institutions, to “honor the nation’s scholastic champions and encourage the pursuit of academic excellence.”

About 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2018 National Merit Scholarship program by taking the 2016 PSAT, which serves 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.  From the approximately 16,000 semifinalists, about 15,000 are expected to advance to become finalists.  Scholarship recipients are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for academic success at the college level.

Roxbury Latin boys earning recognition this year include semifinalists Ben Bryant, Robert Cunningham, Marc de Fontnouvelle, Connor Dowd, Eoghan Downey, James Jaffer, Ben LaFond, David Ma, Andrew White, Reis White, Dylan Zhou; and commendation recipients John Golden, Gabriel Grajeda, Paul Kuechler, Zach Levin, Evan Lim, Zach Milton, John Philippides, Andrew Steinberg, and Benjamin Stick.