Two Steamboat Springs High School Seniors Named as National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists
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Two Steamboat Springs High School Seniors Named as National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists
Steamboat Springs, Colo. - September 11, 2025 - Two Steamboat Springs High School seniors were named today as Semifinalists in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC®). The students are Duke Fitzgerald and Lyla Baker.
Over 1.3 million juniors in about 20,000 high schools entered the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2024 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served 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. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.
“This is a tremendous accomplishment for Duke and Lyla,” said Dr. Celine Wicks, Superintendent. “We are thrilled to celebrate their hard work and perseverance, and we look forward to seeing all that they will continue to achieve in the future.”
To become a Finalist, the Semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the Semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. A Semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT® or ACT® scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.
National Merit Scholarship winners of 2026 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join approximately 389,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.
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Media contact:
Laura Milius, Director of Communications
lmilius@ssk12.org