Rhinelander’s Ripple named a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist

Rhinelander High School student Kate Ripple has been named a semifinalist in the 2025 National Merit® Scholarship Program, the School District of Rhinelander announced last week.

Ripple is one of approximately 16,000 semifinalists in the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

 “These academically talented high school seniors 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,” according to a press release explaining the program.“To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition. The semifinalist and the high school must submit a detailed scholarship application in which (they) provide information about the (student’s) academic record, participation in school and community events/activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, honors and awards received. A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record, write an essay, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.”

The 2025 National Merit Scholarship winners will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join more than 382,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.