Three LCPS students are 2024 College-sponsored National Merit Scholarship winners. These students are among the more than 2,900 winners of National Merit Scholarships financed by U.S. colleges and universities. Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program finalists who plan to attend their institution. These awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship.
The three LCPS students are:
Brij B. Bhagat of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology received a National Merit University of Texas at Dallas scholarship and intends to study mechanical engineering.
Shivani Nadella of Freedom High School received a National Merit University of Maryland School scholarship and intends to study computer science.
Sasanka Sreedevi-Naresh of Briar Woods High School received a National Merit University of Maryland School scholarship and intends to study biomedical engineering.
Earlier this year, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced that eight LCPS students were National Merit $2,500 Scholarship winners, and three LCPS students were Corporate-Sponsored National Merit Scholarship winners.
High school juniors entered the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) as an initial screen of program entrants. Last fall, more than 16,000 semifinalists were named on a state-representational basis in numbers proportional to each state’s percentage of the national total of graduating high school seniors. Semifinalists were the highest-scoring program entrants in each state, representing less than one percent of the nation’s seniors.
To compete for Merit Scholarship awards, semifinalists first had to advance to the finalist level of the competition by fulfilling additional requirements. Each semifinalist submitted a detailed scholarship application, which included writing an essay and providing information about extracurricular activities, awards, and leadership positions. Semifinalists also had to have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirmed the qualifying test performance.
Additional recipients of college-sponsored awards will be announced on July 15.
Published June 20, 2024