MOUNT LAUREL, NJ — A Holy Cross Preparatory Academy student from Mount Laurel has made it to the Semifinal round in the competition to receive a coveted National Merit Scholarship.
Jamie Dunn is among an elite group of 16,000 Semifinalists from around the nation who are high school seniors applying for the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship Program competition. These students will now have the opportunity to continue in the competition and receive one of about 6,870 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million that be will be offered next spring.
Dunn was one of 1.3 million juniors from about 21,000 high schools who entered the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screening of program entrants. She now joins the pool of Semifinalists, who represent less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors and includes the highest-scoring entrants from each state.
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Dunn is an active member of Holy Cross Prep, as she is involved in several extra curricular activities benefiting the school and her community. She serves as President of the school's Women Empowering Women Club and Co-President of the Mission Club, and has been the starting Varsity pitcher on the softball team for three seasons while also playing on a local club team, the NJ Raiders.
Dunn is also the founder of “The Book Nook Project", which provides books to children in underserved communities in Philadelphia, Camden and across New Jersey and sets up “book nooks” for kids in domestic violence centers, free health clinics, homeless shelters and child welfare offices. Dunn has partnered with 11 different local organizations, resulting in The Book Nook Project distributing 5,000 books to kids. For more information about The Book Nook Project, visit the organization's Instagram page at @the.booknookproject.
Dunn and her fellow Merit Scholarship Semifinalists will compete to become Finalists by submitting a detailed scholarship application, which includes information about each student's academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. In addition, the Semifinalists must continued to maintain an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay and earn earn SAT® or ACT® scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.
Of the 16,000 Semifinalists, more than 15,000 are expected to advance to the Finalist level, which will be announced in February 2025. National Merit Scholarship winners of 2025, which will be selected from among the group of Finalists, will be announced in four waves beginning in April and concluding in July. Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be awarded: 2,500 National Merit® $2500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state-representational basis, of which every Finalist will compete; 770 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards provided by about 130 corporations and business organizations; and 3,600 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.
The scholarship recipients will join more than 382,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.
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