Another 2024 Fossil Ridge High School grad earns National Merit Scholarship

A sixth 2024 graduate of Fossil Ridge High School was awarded a National Merit Scholarship this week.

Gavin Payne joined five classmates in receiving one of the highly competitive scholarships with his selection as a recipient of a college-sponsored scholarship from Purdue University, where he plans to study engineering, according to a news release from the National Merit Scholarship program.

College-sponsored awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship. There are 149 colleges and universities sponsoring about 3,700 merit scholarship awards in the program this year, the news release said.

Two other 2024 Fossil Ridge graduates — Paul Mick and Grace Zhoe — had previously received National Merit Scholarships to attend Purdue, where both plan to study computer engineering.

The latest awards bring the total number of 2024 National Merit Scholars to more than 6,900 students, who combined will receive awards totaling nearly $26 million. The competitive process to become eligible for National Merit Scholarships was explained in a previous Coloradoan story.

Reporter Kelly Lyell covers education, breaking news, some sports and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@coloradoan.com,x.com/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news.