Alpharetta, Milton Students Graduate As National Merit Scholars

ALPHARETTA/MILTON, GA — Fifty-one recent graduates of Fulton County Schools (FCS) were named National Merit Scholars by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) for 2019 highlighting the district’s focus on student achievement, a key pillar in the Strategic Plan 2022. These students are part of a group that represents less than one percent of high school seniors across the country.

“We are extremely proud of our Fulton students who have achieved excellence and are being recognized through the National Merit Scholarship Cooperation,” said FCS Chief Academic Officer Cliff Jones. “These students have proven themselves to be academically talented and nationally competitive.”

NMSC’s first round of awards in April were corporate-sponsored scholarships financed by about 160 corporations, company foundations and other business organizations to over 1,000 distinguished high school seniors of which 18 were FCS students. Qualifying students were identified through exceptionally high scores on the PSAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. These corporate sponsors designate awards for finalists with career plans the sponsor wishes to encourage for residents of the community the company serves or for children of their employees. Most of these awards are renewable for up to four years of undergraduate study and provide stipends. Recipients can use their awards at any regionally accredited U.S. college or university of their choice.

The second group of winners, of which 15 are FCS graduates, were awarded the Nation Merit Scholar distinction in May, which includes a $2,500 cash scholarship to use at a U.S., regionally-accredited college or university of their choice. Scholars were chosen from a talent pool of over 15,000 outstanding finalists. These Scholars were selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors, who reviewed a substantial amount of data. Finalists and their high schools had to submit academic records, standardized test scores, contributions and examples of leadership, a written essay and a recommendation by a high school official.

The third announcement of winners in June consisted of 18 FCS graduates, in a total of 3,500, named as recipients of college-sponsored scholarships. Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among the Finalists who plan to attend their institution. These awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship.

The corporate-sponsored award winners from FCS include:

• Alpharetta High School
  • Sidhesh Desai
  • Justin Zandstra
• Milton High School
  • Niraj Jinan
  • Erin Joyce

The graduates who received the National Merit Scholar distinction include:

• Alpharetta High School
  • Dheeraj Eidnani
  • Jake Hopkins
• Milton High School
  • David Owen Schertz
  • Mira Mutnick

The graduates named as college-sponsored recipients include:

• Alpharetta High School
  • Syed Haider
  • Matthew Holmquist
• Cambridge High School
  • Austin Farr
  • Christopher Fettes

Additional recipients of college-sponsored awards will be announced on July 15, bringing the total number of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship recipients in the 2019 competition to about 4,100.