21 Seniors Recognized in National Merit Scholarship Competition

The National Merit Scholarship Program recently announced the names of Class of 2026 students across the country who earned recognition for their academic achievement. This year, 21 Roxbury Latin boys were named—five as National Merit Scholar semifinalists and sixteen others earning commendations from program officials, equating to roughly 36% of the class.

Juniors from across the United States entered the 2025 National Merit Scholarship program by taking the 2023 PSAT. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state, while commended students placed among the top 50,000 students who entered. Scholarship recipients are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for academic success at the college level.

It is estimated annually that from the approximately 16,000 semifinalists, about 15,000 will advance to become finalists, making them eligible for 6,870 National Merit Scholarships nationwide. The organization, along with several hundred independent businesses and companies, support the awards totaling over $33 million. 

Roxbury Latin boys earning recognition this year include semifinalists Habo Baaj, Colin Bradley, Denmark Chirunga, Dylan Pan, and Tom Pogorelec; and commendation recipients Luca Bene, Luke Campanella, Michael DiLallo, Nick Glaeser, Lincoln Hyatt, Max Kesselheim, Avish Kumar, Grayson Lee, Simba Makura, Dylan Massard, Braden Place, Fin Reichard, Austin Reid, Teddy Smith, Marco Suri, and Liam Walsh.