Staples announces 2025 National Merit Scholarship semifinalists – Inklings News
Seven Staples seniors have qualified as National Merit Scholarship semifinalists after taking the 2024 PSAT exam last October.
To be recognized as a semifinalist, one’s score must fall within the top 1% of test takers nationwide, in addition to meeting their state’s high selection index score – 223 in Connecticut.
The semifinalists for Staples are Isabel Jo ’26, Matthew Tybur ’26, Owen Goldfarb ’26, Nathaniel Greely ’26, Jay Hari ’26, Dylan O’Brien ’26 and Julian Saraf ’26.
“It felt great to be recognized and to see my hard work culminate into something tangible,” Owen Goldfarb ’26 said. “It has encouraged me to work harder as I go through the college process.”
The PSAT is designed to gauge a student’s score prior to taking the actual SAT. For most of the recipients, this was just an additional step in their standardized test process and minimal preparation went into the exam.
It felt great to be recognized and to see my hard work culminate into something tangible”
— Owen Goldfarb ’26
“I focused on the ACT, so the SAT format was a bit different than I was used to,” Isabel Jo ’26 said, “but I just thought I’d do my best when I got there.”
In addition to the 16,000 other semifinalists nationwide, Staples students will have the chance to compete to become a finalist. This is done through completing an application and submitting their final SAT or ACT. In 2021, two Staples students received the title.
“It feels great to have earned this honor,” Jay Hari ’26 said, “although I feel like it’s not that much worth celebrating.”
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