Oregon High School students Maya Jadhav, Aislinn Kavan and Winter Wokasch were recently named National Merit Semifinalists. The trio will now move to the finalist stage.
Over 1 million students across the country entered the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The nationwide pool of semifinalists represents less than 1% of high school seniors across the country.
From over 16,000 Semifinalists, more than 15,000 are expected to advance to the Finalist level, and in February they will be notified of this designation. All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from this group of Finalists. Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference.
National Merit Scholarship winners of 2026 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July.
Contact editor Scott De Laruelle at sdelaruelle@orourkemediagroup.com
Ian Black from Oregon, who is studying Music at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, will perform in the university’s Vocal Jazz Ensemble d…
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The Oregon Observer is a weekly newspaper established in 1880 covering the village of Oregon (population 10,170) and the neighboring communities Brooklyn and towns of Oregon, Dunn, Rutland and Brooklyn, as well as the southern portion of the city of Fitchburg. OregonObserver.com publishes new content daily. Our beat reporters are on the ground covering local government, schools, sports, business and culture.
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