2017 National Merit Scholarships: White Plains Student Named in First Round

WHITE PLAINS, NY — The National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced this year’s corporate-sponsored National Merit $2,500 Scholarship winners on Wednesday. The designees were chosen from a talent pool of more than 15,000 Finalists in the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program. Twelve of them are Hudson Valley residents, including one from White Plains.

More than 1,000 distinguished high school seniors won these corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship awards financed by about 200 corporations, company foundations, and other business organizations.

Scholars were selected from students who advanced to the Finalist level in the National Merit Scholarship competition and met criteria of their scholarship sponsors. Corporate sponsors provide National Merit Scholarships for Finalists who are children of their employees, who are residents of communities the company serves, or who plan to pursue college majors or careers the sponsor wishes to encourage.

Most of these awards are renewable for up to four years of college undergraduate study and provide annual stipends that range from $500 to $10,000 per year. Some provide a single payment between $2,500 and $5,000. Recipients can use their awards at any regionally accredited U.S. college or university.

More than 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2015 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. In September 2016, some 16,000 Semifinalists were designated on a state-representational basis in numbers proportional to each state’s percentage of the national total of graduating high school seniors. Semifinalists were the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and represented less than 1 percent of the nation’s seniors.

This is the first announcement about National Merit Scholars in 2017 by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. NMSC will name recipients of National Merit® $2500 Scholarships on May 10, and winners of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards on June 7 and July 17. By the conclusion of this year’s competition, about 7,500 academic champions will have won National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million.

Local students winning corporate-based awards:

Mike A. Wu of Bardonia, Clarkstown High School South. Probable career field: Biology. NATIONAL MERIT PFIZER INC SCHOLARSHIP

Michael D. Hiebert of Chappaqua, Horace Greeley High School. Probable career field: Engineering. NATIONAL MERIT ADP HENRY TAUB MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP

Timothy D. Zavarella of Chappaqua, Horace Greeley High School. Probable career field: Computer Science. NATIONAL MERIT PEPSICO FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP

Hiroko Abe, Eastchester High School. Probable career field: Engineering. NATIONAL MERIT - THE PWC CHARITABLE FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP

Karen Jiang of Hartsdale, Horace Mann School. Probable career field: Neuroscience. NATIONAL MERIT PFIZER INC SCHOLARSHIP

Alexander Lam of Nanuet, Clarkstown High School South. Probable career field: Aerospace Engineering. NATIONAL MERIT JAMES E. CASEY SCHOLARSHIP

Caroline G. Pace of New Rochelle, School of the Holy Child. Probable career field: Medicine. NATIONAL MERIT PRINCIPAL FINANCIAL GROUP SCHOLARSHIP

Jake M. Wu of New Windsor, Cornwall Central High School. Probable career field: Computer Science. NATIONAL MERIT CHEMTURA CORPORATION SCHOLARSHIP

Joseph R. Lawton of Ossining, Hackley School. Probable career field: Neuroscience. NATIONAL MERIT - THE PWC CHARITABLE FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP

Adriana Scanteianu of Ossining, Ossining High School. Probable career field: Applied Mathematics. NATIONAL MERIT CBS CORPORATION SCHOLARSHIP

Kasey E. Stern of Scarsdale, Edgemont High School. Probable career field: Undecided. NATIONAL MERIT MARSH & MCLENNAN COMPANIES SCHOLARSHIP

Isabella C. Ampil of White Plains, Hackley School. Probable career field: Environmental Science. NATIONAL MERIT - THE PWC CHARITABLE FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP

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