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Two West Springfield High School runners will cross another finish line Thursday, June 4, when they graduate as 2026 National Merit Scholarship finalists.
Timothy Campbell and Kennedy Leary are among more than 15,000 seniors nationwide to receive the distinction. The National Merit program uses the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test as its initial screening step.
Both students balanced demanding classes with athletics, leadership roles and other extracurricular activities.
Timothy competed in cross country and indoor and outdoor track. He played trumpet and served as an officer in the Black Student Union, National Honor Society and Science Olympiad team.
He credited his academic success largely to hard work and the self-discipline required to juggle challenging courses, sports and other commitments. Timothy also described West Springfield as a welcoming community where teachers and administrators encouraged him to succeed and helped him become more comfortable being himself.
Timothy will attend Columbia University and major in astrophysics. He hopes to study planets beyond the solar system at a research facility such as NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Kennedy ran cross country and indoor track throughout her four years at West Springfield. She also competed in outdoor track for two years and played soccer for one year. Her activities included leadership roles in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, DECA and the Student Government Association.
She said meeting classmates with different backgrounds, beliefs and interests gave her multiple communities to turn to for support. The competitive environment at West Springfield and across Fairfax County Public Schools also taught her to extend compassion to others and herself.
Kennedy will attend the University of Virginia and is considering a career in the health sciences. Whatever occupation she chooses, she said her long-term goal is to make helping others a priority.
She credited her faith, her parents’ example and guidance from teachers for her academic success. Those teachers showed her that ambition involves more than constant work, she said; it also requires time for oneself and the ability to solve problems when plans go awry.