Center Moriches High School student Chris Russo was named a semifinalist in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program. Russo received this designation for being one of the 16,000 highest scorers of the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Semifinalists represent less than 1% of the nation’s graduating high school seniors.

Semifinalists must fulfill additional requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition before being considered for a scholarship. Nearly 95% of the program’s semifinalists are expected to move on in the competition.