Five students from three Anne Arundel County public high schools have been selected as semifinalists in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship competition.

The five students join 16,000 nationwide who were selected from about 1.3 million juniors at roughly 21,000 high schools based on their 2023 Preliminary SAT scores.

Three of the students are from Severna Park — Benjamin Elliffe, Abbie Heath, and Peter Judge — along with Daniel Garrett from Arundel High School and Nikita Mehta from South River High School.

Established in 1955, the National Merit Scholarship Corp., a nonprofit based in Illinois, oversees the competition.

Roughly 90% of the semifinalists will advance to the finalist stage based on criteria including academic record, a recommendation from their school principal, SAT performance, and participation and leadership in school and community activities. The finalists will compete for 6,870 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million, to be announced in February.