Congratulations to juniors Max Nikruto, Ashley Grindy, Nic Collier, Katherine Nordyke, Ellyana Gruett, and Aidan Gubbins for obtaining qualifying scores for the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program. These students will be informed in the fall as to whether they are Commended students or Semifinalists. “CPHS is proud of their hard work and dedication to academic success,” Principal Russ Marcinek said.

Aidan Gubbins put in extra time to prepare for the PSAT/SAT by going under College Board on Instagram and completing their daily practice questions. “I would just scroll by and look at it. It’s not much, but over the course of months it adds up,” Gubbins said.

The National Merit Scholarship Program is an annual academic competition among high school students for recognition and college scholarships that began in 1955. High school students enter the program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which serves as an initial screen of over 1.3 million entrants each year according to their website.

Other students just used their classes as preparation without doing anything special before the test. “I got 8 hours of sleep, had a rice krispie treat, and a cup of coffee. That was all I needed,” Max Nikruto said.