The National Merit® Scholarship Corporation named Mill Valley High School seniors Natalie Long and Matthew Peterson as Semifinalists in the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program. 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.

To become a National Merit® Scholarship Finalist, each Semifinalist is required to provide information about their academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, and honors and awards received. A Semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout their high school career, provide a recommendation from a high school official, write a personal essay as part of the national competition, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm the student's earlier performance on the qualifying PSAT/NMSQT test to enter the National Merit Scholarship Program.

These academically talented seniors will learn if they advance to the Finalist level in February 2027. Finalists will learn if they are a 2027 National Merit® Scholarship winner between April and July of 2027.

Three types of scholarship awards are offered to Finalists: 2,500 Finalists will receive a National Merit $2,500 Scholarship, about 700 Finalists will receive corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards, and about 3,500 Finalists will receive college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards.

Scholarship winners will join more than 395,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.

Congratulations to these outstanding Mill Valley students!