National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) has named 13 Alachua County Public School (ACPS) high school students as 2025 National Merit Scholars. 

The NMSC announced Wednesday morning the names of 10 ACPS students who have been awarded college-sponsored National Merit Scholarships.  

Three additional ACPS students have been named winners of corporate-sponsored scholarships awarded by NMSC to students “judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies.”  

This brings the total number of National Merit Scholarship winners from ACPS schools to 13. NMSC plans to release the names of additional scholarship winners in July. 

All of the scholarship winners were among the 21 ACPS students named semifinalists in September in the prestigious National Merit Program based on their high scores on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMQT).  

Nineteen of the semifinalists were then named finalists based not just on their test scores but on other academic achievements, awards, leadership activities, teacher recommendations and an essay. Less than 1% of high school seniors earn finalist status each year. 

The winners of the NMSC corporate-funded scholarships are: Yoo-Min Koh and Charlotte Shea of Gainesville High School; and Yihan Wang of Eastside High School. Approximately 130 corporations, company foundations, businesses and the NMSC’s own money helps fund corporate scholarships. 

The winners of the NMSC college-funded scholarship are Charles Austin, Andrew Caruso and Stuart Sun Ding of Buchholz High School; Elizabeth Chapman, Ava Fuller, Kareem Meinel, Aiden Swallow, Kallum Wang and Mathilde Wuthrich of Gainesville High School; and Kyle Zeigler of Eastside High School.   

Individual colleges and universities provide the money for the college-funded National Merit Scholarships. Scholars are given stipends of $500 to $2,000 per year from the schools. School officials select winners from people who have applied and been admitted to the college or university.