Teens At 2 Bergen County Schools Get Merit Scholarships: See Their College Choices

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — Each September, high-achieving high school students are chosen as semi-finalists for a $2,000-per-year grant for college from the National Merit Scholarship Program.

They qualify by earning a high score on the PSAT in 10th grade. For the next two years, they undergo several rounds of qualifications to get to the finals.

Some finalists are awarded general National Merit Scholarships, while others get awards from corporations through the program, or for specific colleges.

Last Wednesday, the National Merit Scholarship Foundation announced only the finalists from New Jersey who will get corporate scholarships.

Two of those winners are from Bergen County high schools.

Other waves of awardees will be announced later.

(See the list of 2024 winners from Bergen County and their career and college goals here.)

The two students getting scholarships from corporations in Bergen County are:

• Aarush R. Borker, Mahwah. Probable career field: Civil engineering. He has won the National Merit Bristol Myers Squibb (pharmaceutical company) Scholarship. An online profile says he'll enroll in Columbia University in fall.
• Tashi M. Lee-Garcia, Ridgewood. Probable career: veterinary medicine. National Merit Insperity Scholarship. (Insperity provides business solutions.) An online profile says she'll study animal medicine at the University of Maryland.

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If your child's name is incorrect or missing from a list, email us.