FCPS Boasts 9 National Merit $2,500 Winners

Nine outstanding seniors in Fayette County Public Schools have earned $2,500 apiece through the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program. They are among 28 award recipients across Kentucky in this round of announcements.

Henry Clay High School

• Peter Jefferson; public health (probable career field)
• Lucille Montague; neuroscience

Lafayette High School

• Trevor Agent; aerospace engineering

Paul Laurence Dunbar High School

• Arimitsu Horikawa Strakovsky; science/research
• Chase Nurick; aerospace engineering
• Sophia Staples; astrophysics
• Grace Sun; biomedical engineering
• Siddhi Viswanath; mechanical engineering
• Anthony Zhang; engineering

This is the second of four winner groups for the Class of 2025. By mid-summer, nearly 7,000 outstanding high school seniors nationwide will have received almost $26 million in awards. 

As juniors, students entered the 2025 competition by taking the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which serves as an initial screening. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than 1 percent of seniors, include the highest-scoring entrants in each state. Typically, over 90 percent of semifinalists advance, and about half of those finalists ultimately receive scholarships based on their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies. 

The winner announcements come in four waves from April through July, including awards for corporate-sponsored scholarships, $2,500 National Merit scholarships, and college-sponsored scholarships. The National Merit Scholarship Corp., businesses, and colleges underwrite the awards.