A recent Forest High School graduate has been named a National Merit Scholar after advancing to the final round of one of the largest scholarship programs in the country, earning himself thousands of dollars towards his future studies in neuroscience at Florida State University.
Ethan Rubin, who just graduated from Forest High School in May, was announced on Monday as a recipient of a National Merit Scholarship. Rubin was awarded a National Merit Florida State University Scholarship to study neuroscience at FSU.
Rubin is the son of Randolph Rubin and Donna Melnikas. Before graduating from Forest, Rubin attended Dr. N.H. Jones Elementary and Osceola Middle School.
The award will provide Rubin with between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at Florida State University. The Ocala resident was selected for the award by officials at FSU from a competitive pool of finalists who advanced to the final stages of the national competition.
Rubin’s path to the scholarship began in October 2024, when he and roughly 1.3 million other high school juniors across the country took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as the initial screening process.
In September 2025, Rubin secured a spot as a semifinalist after scoring in the top one percent of high school seniors in Florida. He was part of an elite group of five Marion County students initially recognized as semifinalists, alongside fellow Forest High School student Leah K. McGinley, Vanguard High School’s Noah Archer, Gabriella Capobianco of West Port High School, and Patrick Liam Lucaric of Belleview High School.
To achieve Finalist standing and eventually win the scholarship, Rubin had to maintain an outstanding academic record, write an essay, demonstrate school and community leadership, secure a recommendation from a high school official, and confirm his academic performance with high SAT or ACT scores.
Monday’s announcement by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation represents the final group of designees to be named in the 2026 cycle. This final round featured more than 750 additional college-sponsored scholarship winners nationwide, joining a group of 2,500 college-sponsored recipients announced earlier this summer.
Rubin is the second Marion County student to clear the final hurdle and win a scholarship during this cycle.
In May, Belleview High School senior Patrick Liam Lucaric was awarded a $2,500 National Merit Scholarship to pursue his studies in astrophysics.
Other local students also achieved notable milestones earlier in the competition, including West Port High School seniors Isabella R. Baez and Kyle J. Curtis, and Forest High School senior Caleb J. Heinke.
By the conclusion of this year’s program, approximately 6,500 academic champions across the United States will have earned the title of Merit Scholar, splitting a total share of nearly $24 million in undergraduate scholarship funds.
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