4 Lawrenceville School Students Win $2,500 National Merit Scholarships

LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ — Four Lawrenceville School students have earned $2,500 National Merit Scholarships, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced. The winners were chosen from a talent pool of more than 15,000 finalists in the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program.

The winners are the finalists in each state judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies. They were chosen by college admissions officers and high school counselors, based on information submitted by both the finalists and their high schools.

Criteria included academic record, including difficulty level of subjects studied and grades earned; scores from two standardized tests; contributions and leadership in school and community activities; an essay written by the finalist; and a recommendation written by a high school official.

The number of winners named in each state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the nation’s graduating high school seniors.

Local winners included:

• Lawrenceville School student Alexandra R. Campbell, of Princeton, whose probable career field is chemistry;
• Lawrenceville School student Ioannis Vandris, of Lawrenceville, whose probable career field is international relations;
• Lawrenceville School student Panayiotis Vandris, of Lawrenceville, whose probable career field is biology; and
• Lawrenceville School student Michael C. Zhao, of Princeton Junction, whose probable career field is business.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NSMC) finances most of these single-payment National Merit $2,500 Scholarships. Corporations and company foundations that sponsor awards through NMSC also help underwrite these scholarships with grants they provide in lieu of paying administrative fees. Scholars may use their awards at any regionally accredited U.S. college or university.

The program began in October of 2015, with over 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

Last fall, the highest-scoring participants in each state, representing less than 1 percent of the nation’s high school seniors, were named son a state-representational basis. Only these 16,000 semifinalists had an opportunity to continue in the competition.

From this group, about 15,000 students met the very high academic standards and other requirements to become a finalist. By the conclusion of the 2017 program, about 7,500 finalists will have earned the “Merit Scholar” title and received a total of over $32 million in college scholarships.

NMSC, a not-for-profit corporation that operates without government assistance, was founded in 1955 specifically to conduct the National Merit Scholarship Program.

The majority of scholarships offered each year are underwritten by approximately 420 independent corporate and college sponsors that share NMSC’s goals of honoring scholastically talented youth and encouraging academic excellence at all levels of education.

For more information about the competition, visit www.nationalmerit.org.

Patch file photo