2 Council Rock South Students Win National Merit Scholarships

NORTHAMPTON, PA — Two students from Council Rock High School South have been named among the nation's National Merit Scholarship winners. The winners were recently chosen from a talent pool of more than 15,000 finalists in the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program. They will each be awarded $2,500 scholarships.

National Merit Scholarship winners have been "judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies," according to an announcement from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

Here are the local winners:

• Cecilia C. Rabayda, probable career field: biomedical engineering
• Alexa M. Spagnola, probable career field: biomedical engineering

In addition, Dorothy Zhao, a Council Rock North student, was awarded a National Merit Scholarship.

According to the National Merit Corporation:

These Scholars were selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors, who appraised a substantial amount of information submitted by both the Finalists and their high schools: the academic record, including difficulty level of subjects studied and grades earned; scores from two standardized tests; contributions and leadership in school and community activities; an essay written by the Finalist; and a recommendation written by a high school official.

More than 1.6 million high school juniors entered the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2015 Preliminary SAT.