Lake Forest Community High School senior named winner of prestigious National Merit Scholarship
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — A Lake Forest Community High School senior has been named a 2025 National Merit Scholarship winner, one of just 2,500 high school seniors nationwide to receive the honor recognizing the most academically talented students in the U.S.
Elizabeth W. Silvay was selected from a pool of more than 15,000 finalists for their outstanding academic record, leadership and potential for success in rigorous college studies, Lake Forest Community High School announced in a news release Wednesday morning.
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According to the school, Silvay began her National Merit journey by taking the 2023 PSAT/NMSQT, joining over 1.3 million entrants. Of those, fewer than 1% of U.S. high school seniors achieved semifinalist status and went on to become finalists eligible for scholarships.
Less than 1% of students who initially apply for the National Merit Scholarship qualify for the top tier, which comes with a $2,500 scholarship award.
'Elizabeth represents the very best of LFHS — she's intellectually curious, deeply committed to her interests, and a positive force in every community she joins,' Dr. Erin Lenart, Assistant Superintendent/Principal of Lake Forest Community High School, said in the release. 'This recognition is a testament not only to her talent, but to her tenacity and the joy she brings to learning.'
Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines
Silvay has committed to attend Ivy League school Dartmouth College starting in the fall, the school said in its release, and plans to pursue a career in chemical engineering.
At her high school, Silvay has been a member of the Math Team, French Club, JV tennis and track and field, in addition to being a downhill ski racer with the Wilmot and Aspen Valley Ski Clubs. She was named to the Illinois Ski Team at the Western High School Championship earlier this year.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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New York Times
14-05-2025
- New York Times
2025 PGA Championship pool picks: Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau among the picks at Quail Hollow
The world's top players are set to tee off on Thursday for the 2025 PGA Championship. This year, the calendar's second major happens to be located at a venue that has treated one of the favorites quite well over the years. Rory McIlroy, who claimed his first Masters Tournament victory last month, should feel very comfortable at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, as he's been quite successful there through the years. Advertisement Eyes are on the sport's stars this week, but there are several value picks for your PGA Championship pool. Here's how it works: One player is selected from each tier of 10 inside the Official World Golf Ranking's Top 50. Let's get to the picks! Odds from BetMGM. Odds: +500 I almost picked McIlroy to win The Masters (here's proof), but was swayed by the numbers and went with someone else. Applying that same strategy to the PGA Championship, McIlroy has to be the selection from the top tier. One stat in particular jumps off the page, and that's McIlroy's number of wins at this venue. He's won four times in 13 events at Quail Hollow. That's a batting average above .300. Aside from the wins, he's also finished T10 or better in five of his other nine starts. The past wouldn't hold as much weight if it weren't also the case that McIlroy is in great form. He's won three times in nine starts this season, including The Masters, and hasn't finished lower than T17 in any event this year. He's been excellent off the tee. McIlroy leads the PGA Tour in strokes gained from the tee box and ranks second in this week's field to Bryson DeChambeau (we'll discuss him shortly) in true strokes gained off the tee, according to Hello, friends. Rory McIlroy just went 56 (!) yards longer than anyone else off No. 1 (and made birdie). T2. One back. — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 12, 2025 In the last 10 years, only two players, Gary Woodland in 2015 and Harris English in 2023, have snagged a top-five finish at this course without gaining strokes off the tee. Quail Hollow rewards players who can absolutely crush drives, which leads nicely into the next tier's selection. Odds: +800 Because he's playing on the LIV Golf Tour, DeChambeau is ranked lower in the WGR than he probably should be, which makes him a great pick at this tier. Advertisement He is leading the LIV tour with an average driving distance of 333.3 yards, and his 1.98 true strokes gained off the tee this year leads the PGA Championship field. DeChambeau is also in good form. Here's how he finished his last four events: He hasn't played at Quail Hollow since the 2021 Wells Fargo Championship, but he finished T9 in that event while gaining 1.04 true strokes off the tee, according to .@brysondech has been driving greens all year 😅👀#LIVGolf — LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) May 13, 2025 Odds: +9000 The two options at this tier were both repeat selections from the aforementioned Masters pool picks, Lee and Daniel Berger. Berger is probably playing better all around golf and is gaining strokes off the tee. But he's doing so with accuracy as opposed to distance. I'm scouting for the long ball here, which decidedly tipped the scales to Lee, who ranks fourth on the PGA Tour in average driving distance this season (316.1). The Australian isn't the most accurate driver, and the form he'd found with his irons and putter ahead of The Masters hasn't been there since. But this course rewards players who hit for power, and Lee has had no trouble with that this season. Min Woo Lee's 2-iron is a weapon at Sawgrass 🔥 — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 14, 2025 Odds: +15000 Novak won't be winning any long driving contests, but he's swinging the sticks as good as anyone on tour right now. Here's how he's finished his last four tournaments: While Novak's worst finish over the last month came at his most recent tournament, he closed Round 4 strong, shooting a 64 — the lowest score of any golfer that day. Since the beginning of April, he ranks seventh in total true strokes gained (2.26) among the PGA Championship field. What a break 😅 Andrew Novak's tee shot *almost* went south @Bermuda_Champ — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) November 16, 2024 Odds: +20000 Here's another player who doesn't fit the power-hitter mold of the earlier picks but does come into the tournament playing some strong golf. Hughes ranks just below Novak in total true strokes gained (2.02) among the PGA Championship field since April 1. He's coming off a T2 finish at the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic, where his putter was working well. Advertisement Hughes also finished T6 last year at Quail Hollow in the Wells Fargo Championship. Odds: +10000 Mitchel hasn't finished outside of the top 20 since March's Valspar Championship. His solid results have been boosted by hot starts at each tournament. Here's what he shot in his last four Round 1s (excluding the Zurich): He's been so good in Round 1s this year that only World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler has more total true strokes gained (4.56) on opening days, according to A hot enough start at the PGA Championship could keep him in the mix. (Photo of Rory McIlroy: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Yahoo
2025 Fantasy Baseball rest-of-season rankings: Outfielders
We're a quarter of the way into the fresh baseball season. It's a fun and useful time to recalibrate the market. Last week, we tackled the starting pitchers, the sirens of our game. So now let's we hit the biggest part of the offense — the outfielders. We'll get to ranking the infield next week. What has happened to this point is merely an audition. The goal with this project is to set up a cheat sheet or depth chart at a given position. You could use it for a fresh draft (the Yahoo Friends & Family Draft is coming soon!), or for trade and pickup ideas. You can use it to consider the strengths and weaknesses of your own teams. [Smarter waivers, better trades, optimized lineups — Yahoo Fantasy Plus unlocks it all] The salaries are a combination of data, observation and special sauce. Players at the same number are considered even. The goal is to figure out where the clusters of talent lie. Injured players are at the bottom, courtesy ranks. Those are not for debate, but I welcome your reasonable disagreement on anything else. Catch me on Twitter or Bluesky, and away we go. $44 Aaron Judge $39 Kyle Tucker $38 Corbin Carroll $37 Fernando Tatis Jr. $34 Mookie Betts $33 Kyle Schwarber $33 Juan Soto $32 Jackson Merrill $29 Oneil Cruz $27 Jackson Chourio $23 Pete Crow-Armstrong $21 Julio Rodríguez $21 Jose Altuve $20 Byron Buxton $20 James Wood It was tempting to slot Judge in his own tier. He's that ridiculous. His Baseball Reference tab is a sea of black ink, identifying his dominance. He's great at pretty much everything. As you'd expect, his Baseball Savant page is a glorious sea of red sliders, pinned to the right. Sure, the average might be an eyelash lucky, but Judge's expected slugging is actually .799. He's a barrel machine. He takes walks. He almost never chases, too, rare for a slugger of this caliber. The perfect hitter. The Cubs have been the NL's best offense all season, with Tucker the trigger man from the No. 2 slot. His batting average is actually 31-points unlucky and his slugging is 53 points shy of where it should be, so Tucker could take a step forward. The Cubs have to be nervous that Tucker could turn into a one-year rental, but they had to take the chance. Chicago looks like a sure-bet playoff team and once you make the tournament, anything can happen. Shockingly, Tucker only has just one top 5 MVP share on his resume, a combination of some bad luck and bad timing. He'll be a deep contender this year. Did you notice he's 21-for-21 on steals since the beginning of 2024? Another ballplayer who can do anything he wants on the field. How do you get Merrill out, exactly? He's on a 14-for-23 binge since his return from injury, pushing his OPS up top 1.259. His hard-hit metrics are dreamy and he's also pulling the ball more this year, making opponents pay when they fall behind in the count. Merrill has never posted a great walk rate, but when you're this good at pitch recognition and barreling the baseball, I won't quibble about a modest walk count. He rarely swings at a bad pitch; you miss the zone, he spits at it. It's scary to think he merely turned 22 in April. $19 Brent Rooker $18 Wilyer Abreu $17 Seiya Suzuki $17 Steven Kwan $17 Christian Yelich $17 Wyatt Langford $15 Trent Grisham $15 Heliot Ramos $15 Riley Greene $15 Lawrence Butler $14 Kerry Carpenter $14 Jarren Duran Sutter Health Park has been an offensive bonanza for the first six weeks, but Butler's oddly had trouble getting comfortable there (.628 OPS at home — with a .192 average — against a .754 OPS on the road). I believe in the breakout player Butler was last year. Although his expected stats aren't fun to look at right now, this is still a power-speed profile I'm willing to bet on. Kwan is one of my favorite players because his approach is in direct contrast to the rest of the world. At a time where so many players sell out for velocity, Kwan lags at the bottom of the hard-hit metrics and the bat speed leaderboard. Forget trying to fool him or strike him out, of course; Kwan excels at contact. And it's not like he never has an explosive result — he has 18 home runs since the beginning of 2024. He's going to win a batting title someday, and despite mediocre speed, he's good for 15-25 steals a year, too. The Red Sox aren't in a hurry to promote uber-prospect Roman Anthony, and part of that story is Abreu's breakthrough. We knew Abreu's glove would play — he's a plus-plus defender — but he's made himself into a dynamic offensive player, significantly improving his walk and strikeout rates this year while also bumping his home runs. Abreu is nothing special as a runner, but he can grab 10-12 bases a year simply by being smart and athletic. Add it all up and this is one of the most underrated hitters in MLB. $12 Jung Hoo Lee $12 Andy Pages $12 Randy Arozarena $12 Jasson Domínguez $12 Jordan Beck $12 Brenton Doyle $11 Brendan Donovan $11 Brandon Nimmo $11 Tyler Soderstrom $10 Lars Nootbaar $10 George Springer $10 Victor Scott II $10 Luis Robert Jr. $10 Cody Bellinger $10 Nick Castellanos $10 Michael Harris II $10 Kyle Stowers $10 Bryan Reynolds $10 Anthony Santander $10 Kristian Campbell $9 T.J. Friedl $9 Cedric Mullins $9 Lourdes Gurriel Jr. $9 Adolis García $9 Spencer Steer $9 Josh Lowe Santander's home run count last year was seven higher than it should have been, per Statcast, so the power drop isn't a shock. It can also be stressful to change teams on a big contract, the pressure that comes standard. With strikeout and walk rates moving in the wrong direction, this is the classic case of a player who's likely pressing. Moving forward, I'd bet on something around a .240 average, but with 20-24 homers to come. We asked just two things of Scott two months ago — hit for a reasonable average and run rabbit, run. So far so good: a tidy 11-for-12 on swipes, with a .288 average and .355 OBP. Now it's fair to wonder if the Cardinals will consider promoting Scott in the lineup; he's been eighth or ninth just about all year. $8 Mike Yastrzemski $8 JJ Bleday $8 Josh Smith $7 Evan Carter $7 Austin Hays $7 Tyler O'Neill $7 Dylan Moore $6 Trevor Larnach $6 Taylor Ward $6 Jorge Soler $6 Willi Castro $5 Dylan Crews $5 Miguel Andújar $5 Jonathan India $5 Michael Toglia $5 Maikel Garcia $4 Jake Meyers $4 Harrison Bader $4 Ceddanne Rafaela $4 Sal Frelick $4 Alec Burleson $4 Chandler Simpson $3 Max Kepler $3 Kyle Isbel $3 Andrew McCutchen $3 Joc Pederson Carter was a big deal two years ago, then hit the struggles that befall so many glittering prospects. I can't unsee that he was the No. 3-4 batter for the Rangers when they rolled to the championship in 2023. He's still just 22 and he was considered a top-five prospect a year ago. His plate-discipline stats were good during the Triple-A reset, everything else was pedestrian. But sometimes you have to simply bet on talent. The light could go on at any moment. Simpson is another rabbit who just needs to hit for an ordinary average to mark his territory on our rosters. He's grabbed seven bags on eight attempts over 20 games; this roughly equates to 56 on a full season. He's slugging .301, about what we expected. If this type of specialist is going to justify a roster spot, he needs to dominate in the area where he's skilled. Simpson can check that box. He's chasing a little more than we'd like, though his K/BB stats are in a good place. $2 Eli White $2 Kameron Misner $2 Enrique Hernandez $2 Isiah Kiner-Falefa $2 Alek Thomas $2 Jo Adell $2 Jordan Walker $2 Daulton Varsho $2 Michael Conforto $2 Nolan Jones $1 Miguel Vargas $1 Heston Kjerstad $1 Jacob Young $1 Alex Verdugo $28 Yordan Álvarez $25 Ronald Acuña Jr. $21 Teoscar Hernández $19 Jazz Chisholm Jr. $12 Ian Happ $11 Mike Trout $9 Víctor Robles $7 Colton Cowser $7 Lane Thomas $ 7 Tommy Edman $ 6 Tyler Fitzgerald $5 Andrew Benintendi $5 Jurickson Profar (suspension) $3 Dane Myers
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Yahoo
2025 Fantasy Baseball rest-of-season rankings: Outfielders
We're a quarter of the way into the fresh baseball season. It's a fun and useful time to recalibrate the market. Last week, we tackled the starting pitchers, the sirens of our game. Today we hit the biggest part of the offense — the outfielders. We'll get to ranking the infield next week. What has happened to this point is merely an audition. The goal with this project is to set up a cheat sheet or depth chart at a given position. You could use it for a fresh draft (the Yahoo Friends & Family Draft is coming soon!), or for trade and pickup ideas. You can use it to consider the strengths and weaknesses of your own teams. [Smarter waivers, better trades, optimized lineups — Yahoo Fantasy Plus unlocks it all] The salaries are a combination of data, observation and special sauce. Players at the same number are considered even. The goal is to figure out where the clusters of talent lie. Injured players are at the bottom, courtesy ranks. Those are not for debate, but I welcome your reasonable disagreement on anything else. Catch me on Twitter or Bluesky, and away we go. $44 Aaron Judge $39 Kyle Tucker $38 Corbin Carroll $37 Fernando Tatis Jr. $34 Mookie Betts $33 Kyle Schwarber $33 Juan Soto $32 Jackson Merrill $29 Oneil Cruz $27 Jackson Chourio $23 Pete Crow-Armstrong $21 Julio Rodríguez $21 Jose Altuve $20 Byron Buxton $20 James Wood It was tempting to slot Judge in his own tier. He's that ridiculous. His Baseball Reference tab is a sea of black ink, identifying his dominance. He's great at pretty much everything. As you'd expect, his Baseball Savant page is a glorious sea of red sliders, pinned to the right. Sure, the average might be an eyelash lucky, but Judge's expected slugging is actually .799. He's a barrel machine. He takes walks. He almost never chases, too, rare for a slugger of this caliber. The perfect hitter. The Cubs have been the NL's best offense all season, with Tucker the trigger man from the No. 2 slot. His batting average is actually 31-points unlucky and his slugging is 53 points shy of where it should be, so Tucker could take a step forward. The Cubs have to be nervous that Tucker could turn into a one-year rental, but they had to take the chance. Chicago looks like a sure-bet playoff team and once you make the tournament, anything can happen. Shockingly, Tucker only has just one top 5 MVP share on his resume, a combination of some bad luck and bad timing. He'll be a deep contender this year. Did you notice he's 21-for-21 on steals since the beginning of 2024? Another ballplayer who can do anything he wants on the field. How do you get Merrill out, exactly? He's on a 14-for-23 binge since his return from injury, pushing his OPS up top 1.259. His hard-hit metrics are dreamy and he's also pulling the ball more this year, making opponents pay when they fall behind in the count. Merrill has never posted a great walk rate, but when you're this good at pitch recognition and barreling the baseball, I won't quibble about a modest walk count. He rarely swings at a bad pitch; you miss the zone, he spits at it. It's scary to think he merely turned 22 in April. $19 Brent Rooker $18 Wilyer Abreu $17 Seiya Suzuki $17 Steven Kwan $17 Christian Yelich $17 Wyatt Langford $15 Trent Grisham $15 Heliot Ramos $15 Riley Greene $15 Lawrence Butler $14 Kerry Carpenter $14 Jarren Duran Sutter Health Park has been an offensive bonanza for the first six weeks, but Butler's oddly had trouble getting comfortable there (.628 OPS at home — with a .192 average — against a .754 OPS on the road). I believe in the breakout player Butler was last year. Although his expected stats aren't fun to look at right now, this is still a power-speed profile I'm willing to bet on. Kwan is one of my favorite players because his approach is in direct contrast to the rest of the world. At a time where so many players sell out for velocity, Kwan lags at the bottom of the hard-hit metrics and the bat speed leaderboard. Forget trying to fool him or strike him out, of course; Kwan excels at contact. And it's not like he never has an explosive result — he has 18 home runs since the beginning of 2024. He's going to win a batting title someday, and despite mediocre speed, he's good for 15-25 steals a year, too. The Red Sox aren't in a hurry to promote uber-prospect Roman Anthony, and part of that story is Abreu's breakthrough. We knew Abreu's glove would play — he's a plus-plus defender — but he's made himself into a dynamic offensive player, significantly improving his walk and strikeout rates this year while also bumping his home runs. Abreu is nothing special as a runner but he can grab 10-12 bases a year simply by being smart and athletic. Add it all up and this is one of the most underrated hitters in MLB. $12 Jung Hoo Lee $12 Andy Pages $12 Randy Arozarena $12 Jasson Domínguez $12 Jordan Beck $12 Brenton Doyle $11 Brendan Donovan $11 Brandon Nimmo $11 Tyler Soderstrom $10 Lars Nootbaar $10 George Springer $10 Victor Scott II $10 Luis Robert Jr. $10 Cody Bellinger $10 Nick Castellanos $10 Michael Harris II $10 Kyle Stowers $10 Bryan Reynolds $10 Anthony Santander $10 Kristian Campbell $9 T.J. Friedl $9 Cedric Mullins $9 Lourdes Gurriel Jr. $9 Adolis García $9 Spencer Steer $9 Josh Lowe Santander's home run count last year was seven higher than it should have been, per Statcast, so the power drop isn't a shock. It can also be stressful to change teams on a big contract, the pressure that comes standard. With strikeout and walk rates moving in the wrong direction, this is the classic case of a player who's likely pressing. Moving forward, I'd bet on something around a .240 average, but with 20-24 homers to come. We asked just two things of Scott two months ago — hit for a reasonable average and run rabbit, run. So far so good: a tidy 11-for-12 on swipes, with a .288 average and .355 OBP. Now it's fair to wonder if the Cardinals will consider promoting Scott in the lineup; he's been eighth or ninth just about all year. $8 Mike Yastrzemski $8 JJ Bleday $8 Josh Smith $7 Evan Carter $7 Austin Hays $7 Tyler O'Neill $7 Dylan Moore $6 Trevor Larnach $6 Taylor Ward $6 Jorge Soler $6 Willi Castro $5 Dylan Crews $5 Miguel Andújar $5 Jonathan India $5 Michael Toglia $5 Maikel Garcia $4 Jake Meyers $4 Harrison Bader $4 Ceddanne Rafaela $4 Sal Frelick $4 Alec Burleson $4 Chandler Simpson $3 Max Kepler $3 Kyle Isbel $3 Andrew McCutchen $3 Joc Pederson Carter was a big deal two years ago, then hit the struggles that befall so many glittering prospects. I can't unsee that he was the No. 3-4 batter for the Rangers when they swept to the championship back in 2023. He's still just 22 and he was considered a top 5 prospect a year ago. His plate-discipline stats were good during the Triple-A reset, everything else was pedestrian. But sometimes you have to simply bet on talent. The light could go on at any moment. Simpson is another rabbit who just needs to hit for an ordinary average to mark his territory on our rosters. He's grabbed seven bags on eight attempts over 20 games; this roughly equates to 56 on a full season. He's slugging .301, about what we expected. If this type of specialist is going to justify a roster spot, he needs to dominate in the area where he's skilled. Simpson can check that box. He's chasing a little more than we'd like, though his K/BB stats are in a good place. $2 Eli White $2 Kameron Misner $2 Enrique Hernandez $2 Isiah Kiner-Falefa $2 Alek Thomas $2 Jo Adell $2 Jordan Walker $2 Daulton Varsho $2 Michael Conforto $2 Nolan Jones $1 Miguel Vargas $1 Heston Kjerstad $1 Jacob Young $1 Alex Verdugo $28 Yordan Álvarez $25 Ronald Acuña Jr. $21 Teoscar Hernández $19 Jazz Chisholm Jr. $12 Ian Happ $11 Mike Trout $9 Víctor Robles $7 Colton Cowser $7 Lane Thomas $ 7 Tommy Edman $ 6 Tyler Fitzgerald $5 Andrew Benintendi $5 Jurickson Profar (suspension) $3 Dane Myers