Cheltenham H.S. Senior Wins National Merit Scholarship

WYNCOTE, PA — A Cheltenham High School senior has been named a winner of a National Merit Scholarship, one of the most prestigious awards available to graduating students.

Victoria N. Suarez, an Elkins Park resident, plans on studying writing at Boston University. Victoria is among a distinguished group of around 7,600 winners nationwide for 2020.

The latest round of winners announced Wednesday include 650 students receiving scholarships financed by colleges. The awards range from $500 to $2,000 annually for four years of study. This group joins the roughly 3,300 other winners of college-sponsored awards announced earlier in June.

The remainder of the National Merit Scholarships were funded by businesses, often in the same intended career field as the recipient.

The National Merit Scholarship process is a lengthy one, with 1.5 million students across the country automatically entered into preliminary consideration for the 2020 awards following the 2018 preliminary SATs.

From, there around 16,000 students are named semifinalists, and about 15,000 of the semifinalists qualify as finalists.

In order to be considered as finalists, semifinalists completed a scholarship application with an essay and information about extracurricular activities, awards, and leadership positions. Semifinalists also had to demonstrate an outstanding academic record, earn SAT or ACT scores confirming their PSAT performance, and get a recommendation from a high school official.

Scholarship winners were the finalists determined to "have the strongest combination of academic skills and achievements, extracurricular accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies," according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.