Lake Forest High School Student Named National Merit Scholar

LAKE FOREST, IL — A Lake Forest High School senior was among the first group of National Merit Scholars announced last week. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation made the first of its four announcements of 2019 scholarship winners. The Evanston-based nonprofit said more than 1,000 high school seniors were awarded corporate-sponsored awards financed by about 160 corporations, foundations and business organizations.

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.

Ryan N. Eleveld, a Lake Forest High School senior who intends to pursue a career in chemistry, was awarded the National Merit Abbvie Inc. Scholarship. The North Chicago-based pharmaceutical company recognizes outstanding students among the children of its employees, according to National Merit.

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, according to the release.

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, its 64th year of operations.

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