Clarkdale High School senior Jeffrey Holden Anderson was among 16,000 students nationwide named a 2025 National Merit Scholarship semifinalist earlier this week.
Anderson, along with more than 1.3 million students representing 21,000 high schools across the nation, entered the 2025 National Merit program by taking the Preliminary SAT in fall 2023. The PSAT serves as an initial screen of program entrants.
On Wednesday, the National Merit Corporation allowed schools to release the names of students who were recognized as 2025 semifinalists. The pool of 16,000 students includes the highest-scoring entrants from each state and represents less than 1% of all U.S. high school seniors.
Anderson said he was not surprised he was named a semifinalist based on his combined score of 1460, including a perfect score on the English portion of the test, and the scores of past semifinalists.
“I kind of expected it honestly. I impressed myself with my score,” he said, but it was “still very exciting when I found out I was a National Merit Semifinalist.”
Anderson, who has made a 33 on the ACT, is the son of Jeff and Katie Anderson. He will attend Mississippi State University next fall, where he plans to major in electrical engineering.
As a semifinalist, Anderson now qualifies to continue in the competition to be named a National Merit Finalist and the chance to share in some 6,870 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $26 million to be offered next spring.