Hampton Roads Academy is thrilled to announce that a record-breaking 20 percent of the Class of 2026 has been recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Program for outstanding academic achievement. The nine talented seniors honored include seven Commended Students and two Semifinalists.
Congratulations to this year’s honorees!
Students earning these highly competitive recognitions, awarded annually by the nonprofit National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), are among HRA’s top achievers in the classroom.
Of the approximately 1.3 million high school students who took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) in 2024, just 34,000 high scorers were designated Commended Students. Less than one percent of graduating seniors across the country qualified as Semifinalists. As members of this select group, Cam Hall ’26, the senior class president and a varsity soccer player, and Zack Patten ’26, an alumnus of the Virginia Governor’s School for Mathematics, Science, & Technology and member of HRA’s varsity tennis team, will be eligible to advance to National Merit Finalist standing. The NMSC will announce Finalists in early 2026.
For some college-bound seniors, these prestigious recognitions could translate into substantial scholarships from colleges and universities seeking to recruit academically exceptional students.
According to Assistant Head of School and Director of Upper School Ben Rous, the fact that fully a fifth of the Class of 2026 earned National Merit honors “is a testament to their academic power, as well as the preparation and education they have received during their time at Hampton Roads Academy.”
For such a high proportion of a graduating cohort to be recognized by the NMSC is unprecedented, not only at HRA, but among any of its peer institutions on the Peninsula.
As Upper School English teacher and Dean of Students Laurie Hager succinctly observed, “This is an astonishingly brilliant class.”
