Central Bucks Seniors Awarded College-Sponsored Merit Scholarships

DOYLESTOWN, PA — Two students from the Central Bucks School District have been awarded college-sponsored National Merit Scholarships to their schools of choice, it was announced on Wednesday by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

Officials from each sponsor college selected their winners from among the finalists in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program who plan on attending their institution. The awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship.

An additional group of scholars will be announced in July, bringing the total number of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship recipients in the 2026 competition to about 3,500.

The winners announced this week are a part of a distinguished group of about 6,700 high school seniors who will receive National Merit Scholarships for college undergraduate study worth nearly $24 million. Earlier this spring, NMSC announced winners of corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards and National Merit $2500 Scholarships.

High school juniors entered the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2024 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Last fall, more than 16,000 semifinalists were
named on a state-representational basis in numbers proportional to each state’s percentage of the national total of graduating high school seniors. Semifinalists were the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and represented less than one percent of the nation’s seniors.

The Central Bucks Winners

• Julian Grofcik, a senior at Central Bucks High School South in Warrington, is considering a career in chemical engineering. Julian has been selected to receive the National Merit University of Alabama Scholarship.

• Noah David Gerstein of Doylestown is a senior at Central Bucks High School West. Noah is planning a career in chemical engineering. He has been selected to receive the National Merit Case Western Reserve University Scholarship.