Sag Harbor Union Free School District

Sag Harbor Seniors Named Semifinalists in the National Merit

Scholarship Program

Two Pierson High School seniors have been named semifinalists in the 2025 National Merit
Scholarship Competition. Kai Basseches and David Kriegsman join more than 16,000
semifinalists nationwide in the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. They
were selected based on their outstanding performance on the 2023 College Board
Preliminary SAT (PSAT) qualifying tests that over 1.3 million students took in the fall of
2023. Both Basseches and Kriegsman have now submitted detailed scholarship
applications in hopes of being chosen as a finalist.
“This significant achievement recognizes their achievements as being two of the highest-
scoring entrants in New York State,” said Pierson College and Career Counselor, Margaret
Motto. Basseches and Kriegsman are both International Baccalaureate Diploma Program
candidates at the top of their class at Pierson.