Arlington Student Named National Merit Scholar

ARLINGTON, MA — More than a million and a half teens entered the National Merit Scholarship competition last fall but only one Arlington student was awarded the 2017 scholarship sponsored by colleges.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation named Karmen Lu its 2017 National Merit Scholars for Arlington. Lu, who lives in Malden, is a graduating senior of Arlington Catholic High School and receives a $2,500 scholarship from Northeastern.

"The Arlington Catholic community could not be more proud of her," said guidance counselor Janet Delude in an email to Patch. "This honor is a testament to Karmen's work ethic and natural intelligence. It also shows that Arlington Catholic does provide students with a strong academic foundation that allows them to reach their full potential."

The school's motto is "Accept the Challenge," said Delude and Karmen far exceeded their expectations by always taking challenging classes and being actively involved in the school's community.

"She is an athlete and does a great deal of volunteer work on top of her rigorous academic schedule. As a person, she is extremely humble. Karmen is the type of student and person school's dream of," said Delude.

More than 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2017 National Merit Scholarship competition by taking a qualifying test. A total of 16,000 semifinalists were named last fall, and they have been winnowed down to 3,200 today.

The National Merit Scholarship corporation announced more than 3,200 winners on Wednesday, June 7. These scholarships are financed by some 182U.S. colleges and universities, and the awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship. Earlier this year, winners of corporate-sponsored scholarships and scholarships awarded by the NMSC were named.

NMSC will announce another group of scholars across the country in July, bringing the total number to about 4,000.

The National Merit Scholarship is a nonprofit established in 1955 with the goal of enhancing educational opportunities for America’s scholastically talented youth.

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