4 Ashburn Students Awarded College-Sponsored Merit Scholarships

ASHBURN, VA — Four Ashburn students received awards in the final round of National Merit Scholarships of 2022. On Monday, the scholarship program announced the final round of college-sponsored awards.

In June, more than 2,600 students received awards. On Monday, 1,200 more students received college-sponsored awards.

The college-sponsored scholarships provide between $500 and $2,000 per year for a student's four years at the university.

This year, 155 different colleges and universities are sponsoring awards. They include institutions in 42 states and D.C.

Here are the latest National Merit Scholarship winners from the Ashburn area:

• Himaja Chintalapalli from Independence High School in Ashburn.
  • Chintalapalli plans to study medicine at the University of Cincinnati.
• Tryphena N. Pilli from Briar Woods High School in Ashburn.
  
  • Pilli plans to study medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University.
• Kyler A. Sircar from Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn.
  
  • Sircar plans to study music at Virginia Commonwealth University.
• Tvisha R. Vanteru from Rock Ridge High School in Ashburn.
  • Vanteru plans to study medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University.

About 7,500 high school seniors received National Merit Scholarships totaling about $28 million in 2022. Winners of corporate-sponsored scholarships were announced on April 27, and winners of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation's $2,500 awards were named on May 11. There are about 4,000 college-sponsored awards in total.

High school seniors were entered into the National Merit Scholarship competition when they took the 2020 PSAT as juniors. Over 16,000 semifinalists were named in the fall based on each state's proportion of graduating seniors in the U.S. Semifinalists were the highest-scoring students, representing less than 1 percent of high school seniors.

To advance to the finalist stage, semifinalists had to submit a scholarship application with an essay, information about extracurricular activities, awards and leadership positions. Semifinalists also had to show an outstanding academic record, receive a recommendation from a high school official, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirmed their PSAT performance.

Over 15,000 qualified for the finalist standing. Half of these finalists received National Merit Scholarships in 2022.