Pascack Valley High School is pleased to announce that Thijs Van Veen, Class of 2026, has been recognized as a semifinalist in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program.
Thijs is one of more than 16,000 semifinalists in the 71st Annual National Merit Scholarship Program competition. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 6,930 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million that will be offered next spring.
More than 1.3 million juniors in about 20,000 high schools entered the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2024 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.
Thirteen Seniors Named National Merit Commended Students
Pascack Valley High School moreover congratulates 13 seniors who have been named “Commended Students” in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program. PV Principal John Puccio presented a letter of commendation on behalf of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) to the following scholastically talented seniors: Jaiden Bavalia, Johanna Chang, Ashlyn Choi, Tyler Cigercioglu, Kaitlyn Conway, Christopher Corcoran, Abigail Metz, Charlotte Moy, Nicholas Ocampo, Wojciech Piotrowski, Ming-Yang Qin, Carolyn Veit, and Ian Weinstein.
Commended students placed among the top 50,000 scorers of more than 1.6 million students who entered the 2025 competition by taking the 2024 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Text (PSAT/NMSQT).
AP Scholars Also Announced
Pascack Valley High School also is pleased to announce that 44 students from the Class of 2026 have earned 2025 AP Scholar Awards in recognition of their exceptional achievement on AP Exams. These students are acknowledged for their performance on AP Exams taken during their junior year of high school.
Ashlyn Choi, Kaitlyn Conway, Llaoly Coplin, Christopher Corcoran, Hugh Gorman, Angelina Graham, Doyun Kim, Charlotte Moy, Ming-Yang Qin, Joely Ross, Aleksey Trust, Kristina Wegner, and Ian Weinstein qualified for the AP Scholar with Distinction Award by earning an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams.
Fifteen students qualified for the AP Scholar with Honor Award by earning an average score of at least 3.25 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams. These students are Jaiden Bavalia, Mia Boretti, Amanda Bramley, Johanna Chang, Abigail Comer, Lila Dolgoff, Ella Gokhale, Benjamin Gulleyan, Riley Hirsch, Olivia Kaldus, Jonathan Lee, Abigail Metz, Mitchel Roznitsky, Sophie Schmoyer, and Jacqueline Sohl.
Sixteen students qualified for the AP Scholar Award by completing three or more AP Exams with scores of 3 or higher. The AP Scholars from the Class of 2026 are Dylan Biegel, Kaylee Cortolano, Caliana Dembowski, Addison Demyen, Leah Fox, Julia Kolax, Andrew Li, Maya Newell, Nicholas Ocampo, Olivia Pampliega, Emily Pincus, Brian Slasinski Jr., Markiyan Slyusarchyn, Thijs Van Veen, Carolyn Veit, and Brady Viola.
The College Board’s Advanced Placement (AP) Program provides willing and academically prepared students with the opportunity to take rigorous college-level courses while still in high school, and to earn college credit, advanced placement, or both for successful performance on the AP Exams. As members of the Class of ’26, these students have one more year in which to complete college-level work and possibly earn a higher-level AP Scholar Award.
“Pascack Valley High School is incredibly proud of these students,” said principal John Puccio. “These academic achievements acknowledge our students’ ability to master complex subject matter and demonstrate a readiness for college-level academics.”