Owen J. Roberts Student Named College-Sponsored National Merit Scholar

AMBLER, PA — An Owen J. Roberts student has been named a college-sponsored National Merit Scholar, joining this year's winners in the latest round of announcements this week.

Riley E. Serfass, of Chester Springs, has a probable career field of marketing and received a scholarship from the University of Florida.

The college-sponsored scholarships mark the third and final round winners of various types of National Merit Scholarships this year. They're given to students who have committed to a specific institution.

If it feels like you just heard about college-sponsored scholarship winners, you're not wrong. Scholars have been announced in multiple groups, with the first round announced last month and a second round of 750 winners announced this week.

These are separate from the winners of the National Merit $2,500 scholarship in mid-May, and the corporate-sponsored scholarship winners announced in April.

A total of 45 students in Pennsylvania were among the winners of the college-sponsored scholarships announced this week, which range from $500 to $2,000 annually for four years of undergraduate study.

Selection for the 2026 National Merit scholars began in Oct. 2024, when about one percent of students nationally taking the PSAT were selected as semifinalists.

From that field of around 16,000 semifinalists, around 15,000 met the academic standards required to continue to the finalist level of competition.

The group was further whittled down to about 6,700 students nationwide who have earned the "merit scholar" title this spring.