Algonquin Student Wins National Merit Scholarship

ALGONQUIN, IL –A local student has been awarded a $2,500 scholarship from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. The 2,500 students selected were chosen from an initial screen of students taking the preliminary SAT test at more than 22,000 high schools across the country, the organization announced. The latest group Merit Scholar designees includes one student from Algonquin.

The winners were picked by a panel of college and high school staff who evaluated students by the difficulty of their academic record, test scores, activities in an out of school, an essay and a letter of recommendation. According to the organization, the number of students named in Illinois is proportional to the state's percentage of graduating high school seniors nationwide.

The local Merit Scholar is Thomas G. Stanila of Algonquin. Stanila attends St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights and plans to pursue a career in medicine.

The Evanston-based organization finances most of the single-payment scholarships, which can be used at any regionally accredited college or university in the country.

Last month, the organization named more than 1,000 recipients of corporate-sponsored awards mostly open to the children of employees of participating companies. In June and July, about 4,000 winners of college-sponsored National Merit Scholarships will be announced. By the end of this year's competition, more than $31 million in scholarships will have been awarded to about 7,500 students.

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