Darien Resident Awarded Corporate-Sponsored National Merit Scholarship

DARIEN, CT — A Darien resident is one of only 10 students in Connecticut to receive a corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship, according to a news release from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

It was announced on Thursday that Brianna Zhang, who lives in town but attends Groton School, a boarding school in Groton, Mass., was awarded with the National Merit Novartis Scholarship.

The Novartis Group companies are leading manufacturers of pharmaceuticals and health care products. Zhang's probable career field is listed as "neurosurgery."

In the first group of winners for the 68th annual National Merit Scholarship Program, approximately 840 distinguished high school seniors across the country were awarded corporate-sponsored scholarships, which have been financed by about 107 corporations, companies, foundations and other business organizations.

Scholars were selected from students who advanced to the finalist level in the National Merit Scholarship competition and met criteria of their scholarship sponsors.

Corporate sponsors provide these scholarships for finalists who are children of their employees, who are residents of communities the company serves, or who plan to pursue college majors or careers the sponsor wishes to encourage.

Most of the corporate-sponsored awards are renewable for up to four years of college undergraduate study and provide annual stipends that range from $1,000 to $10,000 per year.

Some provide a single payment between $2,500 and $5,000. Recipients can use their awards at any regionally accredited U.S. college or university of their choice.

High school juniors entered the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2021 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants.

In September 2022, more than 16,000 semifinalists were designated on a state-representational basis in numbers proportional to each state’s percentage of the national total of graduating high school seniors. Semifinalists were the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and represented less than one percent of the nation’s seniors.

To be considered for a National Merit Scholarship, semifinalists had to fulfill requirements to advance to finalist standing. Each semifinalist was asked to complete a detailed scholarship application, which included writing an essay and providing information about extracurricular activities, awards and leadership positions.

Semifinalists also had to have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirmed their qualifying test performance.

From the semifinalist group, over 15,000 met finalist requirements.

By the conclusion of the 2023 competition, more than 7,140 finalists will have been selected to receive National Merit Scholarships totaling nearly $28 million.

Winners are the finalist candidates judged to have the strongest combination of academic skills and achievements, extracurricular accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies.