Nineteen Friends’ Central Students Recognized by National Merit Scholarship Program

Nineteen Friends’ Central students have earned recognition by the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program, including four students who have been named National Merit Semifinalists.

The National Merit Scholarship Program recognizes outstanding high school students based on their performance on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). More than 1.3 million students entered the 2027 competition by taking the 2025 PSAT/NMSQT, with approximately 50,000 of the highest-scoring students nationwide receiving recognition as either Semifinalists or Commended Students.

FCS’s four National Merit Semifinalists are seniors Ari Barak, Gemma Chiang, Silas Costa, and Miles Stifel. They are among approximately 16,000 Semifinalists nationwide and will have the opportunity to continue in the competition for one of approximately 6,930 National Merit Scholarships to be offered in 2027.

An additional 15 Friends’ Central seniors have been named Commended Students in recognition of their exceptional academic promise: Frances Adams, Zivi Barak, Jonah Casel, Beatrice Damrauer, Max Davis (not pictured), Abigail Greenberg, Peter Hu, Maia Kalina, Violet Kenny, Gio Kim, Luke McCabe, Connor McManus, Tycho Platt-Brannon, Mia Queenan, and Jonathan Weinberg.

This year’s recognition represents a notable increase for Friends’ Central. Nineteen students earned National Merit recognition this year, compared with 11 students who met the program’s recognition threshold last year. We congratulate all of these students on this outstanding academic achievement!