Gulliver Preparatory School is proud to announce that Elisa Tarac ‘26 and Justin Merner ‘26 have been selected as National Merit Scholarship winners. Additionally, Matthew Bahniuk ‘26 was offered the National Merit University of Miami Scholarship and Griffin Rampoldt ‘26 was offered the National Merit Grinnell College Scholarship.
Elisa and Justin earned Finalist recognition along with classmates Matthew Bahniuk ‘26, Kaveen Chainani ‘26, Eitan Krajewski ‘26, Ramiro Perez ‘26, Griffin Rampoldt ‘26, and Gaby Tarpey ‘26 earlier this year. In September 2025, the group was honored as Semifinalists.
This year’s National Merit Scholarship Program began in October 2024 when high school juniors took the PSAT/NMSQT. Last fall, the highest-scoring participants in each state, representing less than 1% of the nation’s high school seniors, were named Semifinalists on a state-representational basis. More than 16,000 Semifinalists had an opportunity to continue in the competition. From the Semifinalist group, over 15,000 students met the very high academic standards and other requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. By the conclusion of the 2026 program, more than 6,700 Finalists will have earned the “Merit Scholar” title and received a total of nearly $24 million in college scholarships.
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was founded in 1955 specifically to conduct the National Merit Scholarship Program. The majority of scholarships offered each year are underwritten by approximately 300 independent corporate and college sponsors that share NMSC’s goals of honoring scholastically talented youth and encouraging academic excellence at all levels of education.
