2 Syosset Students Named College-Sponsored Merit Scholarship Winners

Two Syosset Central High School students are among 3,000 students nationwide who have been named College-Sponsored Merit Scholarship winners.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation made the announcement on Wednesday.

Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among the 2016 National Merit Scholarship Program Finalists who plan to attend their respective institutions.

About 184 higher education institutions, 106 private and 78 public, gave away Merit Scholarship awards through the National Merit Scholarship program.

These awards will provide the students $500 to $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution.

Syosset Scholarship winners include:

• Ilya Yurchenko— probable career field: Physics

Yurchenko was awarded the National Merit Tufts University Scholarship.

About the institution:

Tufts University, located 6 miles from Boston, offers the personal attention of a small college and the options of a complex university. Among the options available to the 4,400 undergraduates in liberal arts and engineering are self-designed majors, the experimental college, independent study, an honors program, double-degree programs, internships, study abroad, a semester in Washington, and ROTC. Over 150 clubs, organizations and sports reinforce the balance at Tufts.

• Alyssa J. Chvasta— probable career field: Biomedical Engineering

Chvasta was awarded the National Merit Vanderbilt University Scholarship.

About the institution:

Vanderbilt University is an independent, privately supported university located in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1873 and is named after Cornelius Vanderbilt who provided funds to establish the university. The university offers undergraduate programs in Liberal Arts, Music, Engineering, Education, and Human Development. Graduate programs are offered in the Humanities, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Business, Engineering, Nursing, Divinity, Law, Medicine, and Public Policy.

Additional recipients of college-sponsored awards will be announced July 18, bringing the total number of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship 2016 recipients to approximately 4,000. About 7,500 academic champions will have won National Merit Scholarships worth approximately $33 million by the end of the 2016 competition.

For more information about the National Merit Scholarship program, visit www.nationalmerit.org.

Patch file photo