3 Highland Park Students Named National Merit Scholars

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — The National Merit Scholarship Corporation made its first of four announcement of this year's scholarship winners last week. Three Highland Park students were among the more than 1,000 high school seniors who were awarded corporate-sponsored awards financed by about 160 corporations, foundations and business organizations, according to the Evanston-based nonprofit.

The winners were selected from a group of finalists meeting the criteria of the scholarship sponsors. Corporations provide National Merit scholarships for finalists who are children of employees, residents of communities where the company does business or students who intend to pursue areas of academic study and careers that the sponsoring company wants to encourage, according to a release.

The corporate-sponsored scholarships range from annual stipends ranging from $500 to $10,000 to single payment awards of between $2,500 to $5,000. Over the 64 years of the National Merit competitions, corporate sponsors have spent or pledged more than $800 million to the program, it said.

The recipients of NMSC $2,500 scholarships will be announced May 8, and college-sponsored scholarship awards will be announced on June 5 and July 15. National Merit said it will award more than $31 million to about 7,600 high school seniors this year.

The following local students received corporate sponsored scholarships from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation:

Matthew B. Doherty, of Highland Park High School, has a probable career field in psychology. He was awarded the National Merit Abbvie Inc. Scholarship. The North Chicago-based pharmaceutical company awards scholarships to the children of its workers.

Jacob N. Hersh, of Highland Park High School, intends to pursue a career in economics. He was awarded the National Merit W.W. Grainger, Inc. Scholarship, sponsored by the Lake Forest-based industrial supplier.

Kaitlin M. Zelinski, of Loyola Academy in Wilmette, expects to have a career in medicine. She was also awarded the National Merit W.W. Grainger, Inc. Scholarship.

Earlier: 12 Highland Park Students Named National Merit Semifinalists

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