5 Lamorinda Students Awarded National Merit Scholarships

LAMORINDA, CA — Nathaniel McManus of Lafayette, and Jenna Foster, Samantha Lin, Joshua Morganstein, and Sarah Svahn of Orinda have been awarded scholarships from their chosen universities through the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

McManus will attend Northeastern University in Massachusetts to study Aerospace Engineering.

Foster will attend American University in Washington, DC to study Politics.

Lin will attend the University of Chicago to study Public Service.

Morganstein will attend Claremont McKenna College to study Foreign Service.

Svahn will attend Tufts University in Massachusetts to study Computer Science.

McManus is a graduate of the private Bentley School in Lafayette, Lin graduated from the private College Preparatory School of Oakland, while Foster, Morganstein, and Svahn all graduated from Miramonte High School, part of Acalanes Union High School District.

These five Lamorinda high school graduates are among over 1,000 students nationwide to receive a scholarship in this final list of awards for 2021, joining more than 3,100 other college-sponsored award recipients who were announced in June.

Each sponsor college selects scholarship winners from among the finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program who will attend their institution.

Students receive between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the college financing the scholarship. The exact awards of the Lamorinda students is not available.

This year, 160 colleges and universities sponsored over 4,100 Merit Scholarship awards.
This final group of winners brings the number of 2021 National Merit Scholars to more than 7,500, worth a total of nearly $30 million.

In addition to college-sponsored awards, two other types of National Merit Scholarships were offered—2,500 National Merit $2500 Scholarships, for which all finalists competed, and about 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for finalists who met criteria specified by their grantor organizations.

The scholarship winners began their journey when over 1.5 million juniors at some 21,000 high schools took the 2019 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. That was whittled down to 17,000 semifinalists last fall. Semifinalists were the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and represented less than one percent of the nation’s seniors.

To become a finalist, each semifinalist had to complete a detailed scholarship application, which included writing an essay, describing leadership positions and contributions in school and community activities.

Some 16,000 attained finalist standing, and about half were chosen to receive National Merit Scholarships.

Also See:

• National Merit Scholar From Lamorinda Announced (June list)
  
• 3 Lamorinda Students Receive National Merit Scholarships (May list)
  
• Campolindo, Miramonte, Acalanes High Schools Among Nation's Best
  
• Local Schools Named 2021 California Distinguished School
  
• Saint Mary’s College Names New President