Wayland HS Student Wins National Merit Prize To Attend Colby

WAYLAND, MA — A Wayland High School student is one of 37 across Massachusetts who won National Merit scholarships sponsored by colleges and universities across the U.S.

Joshua Zhang will head to Colby College in Maine in the fall to study computer science. He will get up to $2,000 per year for college from the merit scholarship. Zhang has also been named a Frederick Fennell Scholar by Interlochen Arts Camp, and he was also among five Wayland seniors picked to play at the 2022 Massachusetts All-State Music Festival at Symphony Hall in Boston.

The National Merit Scholarship Corp. awards a number of different scholarships each spring, with some sponsored by the merit corporation itself, and others sponsored by corporations and by colleges.

Each fall, more than 15,000 students get picked as National Merit semifinalists. Those students then become eligible for awards in the spring near graduation. Four Wayland High School students became semifinalists in September. Zhang and fellow Wayland senior Isabel Xue were the two winners.