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Arts Academy students selected as 2025 National Merit Scholarship semifinalists
Acting major Aidan Halat and classical voice major Leila Topi are among the 16,000 students from across the nation chosen to advance in the prestigious scholarship competition.
National Merit Scholarship semifinalists Aidan Halat (left) and Leila Topi (right).
Two Interlochen Arts Academy students have been selected as semifinalists in the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
Aidan Halat, an acting major from Omaha, Nebraska, and Leila Topi, a classical voice major from Wayland, Massachusetts, are among the 16,000 students from across the United States chosen to advance in the prestigious competition for more than 6,870 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million.
Students entered the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). The highest-scoring entrants in each state—less than one percent of the 1.3 million high school juniors who took the test—were selected as semifinalists.
To become finalists, Halat and Topi will submit detailed scholarship applications which include information about their academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and other awards and honors received. They must maintain an outstanding academic record, receive a recommendation from a school official, and take either the SAT or the ACT to confirm their performance on the qualifying test.
Approximately 95% of semifinalists are expected to advance to the finalist level; about half of these finalists will receive National Merit Scholarships and earn the Merit Scholar title. Scholarship recipients will be announced in four releases beginning in April 2025 and concluding in July 2025.
The National Merit Scholarship Program is operated by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a not-for-profit organization established specifically to conduct the awards. The program honors the nation’s scholastic champions and encourages the pursuit of academic excellence. In addition to awards funded by the NMSC, the National Merit Scholarship Program also awards scholarships sponsored by corporations, businesses, colleges, and universities. Since the program was established in 1955, more than 382,000 accomplished young people have been honored as Merit Scholars.
