4 National Merit Scholars From The Woodlands Announced

THE WOODLANDS, TX — The final group of 2021 National Merit Scholarship winners include four high school students attending schools in The Woodlands..

The National Merit winners from Montgomery County are among the more than 1,000 announced in the latest round of honorees to receive between $500 and $2,000 scholarships from colleges and universities across the country, the National Merit Scholarship Corp. said in a news release Monday. The scholarships can be renewed annually for up to four years at the institution funding them.

National Merit Scholarship winners from Montgomery County from this round of scholarships include:

• Merritt M. Ruffner, The Woodlands Christian Academy, University of Alabama, Law
• William D. Taylor, College Park High School, Texas A&M University, Computer Science
• Elena C. Tuller, College Park High School, Texas A&M University, Nursing
• Greyson L. Windham, College Park High School, Mississippi State University, Computer Science

The National Merit winners announced this week will have their scholarships funded by the colleges and universities that they will attend. One hundred and sixty colleges and universities — including 85 private and 75 public schools — from 42 states and the District of Columbia took part in the merit scholarship program in 2021.

This second group of college-sponsored National Merit scholars marks the end of the awards for 2021 following the first round of university-sponsored National Merit Scholarships in June, the scholarship corporation said. The college-sponsored scholarships were awarded to 4,100 students this year. National Merit Scholarships via corporate-sponsored awards and the corporation's own $2,500 scholarships were announced earlier in the spring.

A pair of students from College Park were awarded corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarships in April, and three more students from The Woodlands township won National Merit Scholarships in May. An additional seven Montgomery County students earned scholarships in the first round of university-sponsored awards in June. Of the 16 Montgomery County students awarded National Merit Scholarships this year, 10 attended College Park.

More than 1.5 million juniors nationally entered the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2019 preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship qualifying test, the corporation said. About 17,000 semifinalists, fewer than 1 percent of the country's high school seniors, were announced last fall.

Semifinalists had to write an essay and detail their extracurricular activities, awards and leadership positions to become a finalist. More than 7,500 students earned National Merit Scholarships this year, almost half of the 16,000 finalists, the corporation said.