West Cook News

Oak Park and River Forest High School has announced that 10 seniors have been named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists for the 2026 program. The students recognized are Francesco Canzona, Tyler Crabb, Adalyn Dunphey, Margaret Herman, Leah Johnson, Brook Lingenfelter, Vivien May, Jude Miller, Liam Roche, and Eleanor Shea.

More than 1.3 million high school juniors across the country entered the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the PSAT/NMSQT in 2024. Of these entrants, 16,000 students—representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors—qualified as semifinalists based on their scores and state representation.

According to data from the Illinois Report Card, Oak Park and River Forest High School serves grades 9 through 12 with an enrollment of 3,393 students during the 2019-2020 school year and is located in Oak Park and Cook County (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/). In that same period, about a quarter of students were enrolled in grade 11 (25.4 percent), which is typically when students take the qualifying exam for this scholarship program (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/).

About 15,000 semifinalists are expected to advance to finalist status in February. From this group, approximately 2,500 will be selected to receive $2,500 National Merit Scholarships.

In addition to these awards funded by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation itself, around 830 corporate-sponsored scholarships will be distributed to students who meet specific criteria set by sponsors. Approximately 150 colleges and universities also plan to offer about 3,600 scholarships to finalists attending their institutions.

The College Board has made changes regarding recognition programs: “The new School Recognition Award along with the first-generation and rural small-town awards position the National Recognition Program to continue helping high-achieving students of all backgrounds stand out on college and scholarship applications and higher ed members connect with remarkable students nationwide. The College Board discontinued race- and ethnicity-based awards in 2025. In 2023, the Supreme Court ruling prohibited the use of race in admissions. Recent legal and regulatory actions have further limited the utility of these awards for students and colleges.”

Oak Park and River Forest High School's student body was composed of approximately 56.9 percent white students, with black students making up about 18.2 percent; Hispanic students accounted for roughly 12.6 percent; Asian students represented about 3.8 percent during the same reporting period (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/).