EVERGREEN PARK, IL — Two Evergreen Park Community High School students have been named 2025 National Merit Scholarship semifinalists. Seniors Benjamin Long and Maximillian Castillo are among the fewer than 1 percent of high school seniors across Illinois to be named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced Friday. 

Long and Castillo are among only about 16,000 high school seniors across the United States to be named semifinalists in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program (NMSP). These academically talented students have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 6,870 National Merit scholarships worth nearly $26 million that will be offered next spring. 

“We could not be more proud of Maximillian and Benjamin,” said Evergreen Park Community High School Principal Matt Dugan. “Their hard work in the classroom and their excellence on the NMSQT led them to this achievement.”

High school students across the nation entered the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2023 Preliminary SAT/NMSQT (National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test). Semifinalists such as Long and Castillo “show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies,” according to the NMSP. 

To compete for National Merit scholarships, semifinalists must advance to the finalist level of the competition by fulfilling several additional requirements. About 95 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and about half of the finalists will win a National Merit scholarship.