West Potomac Senior Among Final 2022 National Merit Scholarship Winners

FORT HUNT, VA — The National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced the last winners of 2022 scholarships Monday, and a West Potomac High School student is in the mix.

Geoffrey Dubay, a West Potomac High School graduate who lives in the Fort Hunt ZIP code, was one of 20 Virginia students in the final round of scholarship awards. The scholarship comes from the University of Alabama, where Dubay will likely study law.

Over 1,200 winners of college-sponsored scholarships were announced Monday, bringing the 2022 National Merit Scholars total to over 7,200. Over 2,600 other college-sponsored scholarship winners were announced in June, 2,500 winners of the National Merit $2500 Scholarships were announced in May, and about 1,000 corporate-sponsored scholarship winners were announced in April. Collectively, the 2022 scholarships total nearly $28 million.

College-sponsored scholarships go to students who will attend the college or university financing the scholarship. Award amounts range between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study. The 2022 scholarships are being funded by 155 colleges and universities in 42 states and the District of Columbia.

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 September 2021 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, and nearly half of these finalists went on to win National Merit Scholarships in 2022.