Ardmore, Wynnewood Students Win Corporate Merit Scholarships

ARDMORE-WYNNEWOOD, PA — Two students in Ardmore and Wynnewood were recently named winners of corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarships.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation last week released the names of the first group of winners in the 65th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

Among the roughly 1,000 high school seniors who won corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship were four local students.

Students who were named winners are:

Tristan B. Szapary

• Probable career field: Applied Mathematics
• Friends Central School, Wynnewood
• Johnson & Johnson Scholarship
  • Caring for the world, one person at a time, has inspired and united the people of Johnson & Johnson for over 125 years. We embrace research and science--bringing innovative ideas, products and services to advance the health and well-being of people. Our Credo places a strong emphasis on our employees, and the National Merit Scholarship Program is an excellent opportunity to support future generations.

Joshua Louie

• Probable career field: Undecided
• Homeschool, Ardmore
• The PWC Charitable Foundation Scholarship
  • The PwC Charitable Foundation, Inc., a section 501(c)(3) organization, is powered by the knowledge, interests and goodwill of our people. It supports our people when in need and invests in emerging solutions to society's greatest challenges in education and humanitarianism.

Corporate National Merit Scholarship awards are financed by about 160 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 $1,000 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 of their choice.

Over 1.5 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2018 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants.

In September 2019, 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 one percent of the nation’s seniors.

To be considered for a National Merit Scholarship, semifinalists had to fulfill requirements to advance to finalist standing. Each semifinalist was asked to complete a detailed scholarship application, which included writing an essay and providing information about extracurricular activities, awards, and leadership positions.

Semifinalists also had to have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirmed their qualifying test performance. From the semifinalist group, some 15,000 met finalist requirements.

By the conclusion of the 2020 competition, about 7,600 Finalists will have been selected to receive National Merit Scholarships totaling over $30 million.