Westport Student Receives National Merit Scholarship

WESTPORT, CT — The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) released the names of the first group of winners in the 64th annual National Merit Scholarship Program on Wednesday. According to a press release, more than 1,000 distinguished high school seniors have won corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship awards financed by about 160 corporations, company 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 National Merit 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 these awards are renewable for up to four years of college undergraduate study and provide annual stipends that range from $500 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.

The following local students received National Merit Scholarships:

• Angela Xulei Ji of Westport. She attends Staples High School and her probable career field is undecided. She received a National Merit S&P Global Scholarship. S&P Global provides these scholarships for children of its employees.

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 scores that confirmed their qualifying test performance. From the semifinalist group, some 15,000 met finalist requirements.

By the conclusion of the 2019 competition, about 7,600 finalists will have been selected to receive National Merit Scholarships totaling over $31 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.