National Merit Scholar Center Names Millburn High School Student Scholarship Winner

EVANSTON, IL -- The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced over 800 additional winners of National Merit Scholarships, which are financed by colleges and universities.

According to NMSC, "These Merit Scholar designees join more than 2,900 other college-sponsored award recipients who
were announced in June. Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among the Finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program who will attend their institution. College-sponsored awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship." This year, 149 colleges and universities are sponsoring approximately 3,700 Merit Scholarship awards. Sponsor colleges include 77 private and 72 public institutions located in 42 states and the District of Columbia.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE FREE TAPINTO.NET NEWSLETTER

There are over 6,900 2024 National Merit Scholars. High school graduates will receive scholarships for undergraduate
studies -- worth a total of nearly $26 million. In addition, there are two other types of National Merit Scholarships: 2,500 National Merit students received $2,500 Scholarships, for which all Finalists competed, and approximately 770 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who met criteria specified by their grantor organizations.

The 2024 NMSC began when high school juniors sat for the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), the initial screen for entrants. In September 2023, 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 and represented less than one percent of the nation’s seniors.

Each Semifinalist completed a detailed scholarship application, which included an essay describing leadership positions and contributions in school and community activities, showing an outstanding academic record and being endorsed and
recommended by a high school official. Semifinalists also had to take the SAT® or ACT® and earn scores that confirmed their performance on the initial qualifying test. From the Semifinalist group, over 15,000 attained Finalist standing, and about half of the Finalists were chosen to receive National Merit Scholarships.

The NMSC website states, "[NMSC] is a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance. It was founded in 1955 to conduct the National Merit Scholarship Program. Over the past 69 years, approximately 382,000 outstanding young individuals have won National Merit Scholarships worth more than $1.3 billion. The majority of awards offered each year are underwritten by approximately 320 independent corporate and college sponsors that support NMSC’s efforts to recognize scholastically talented youth and encourage the pursuit of academic excellence."

DOWNLOAD THE FREE TAPINTO APP FOR MORE LOCAL NEWS. AVAILABLE IN THE APPLE STORE AND THE GOOGLE PLAY STORE .

Riya Devroy is a newly graduated alumna of Millburn High School, who will enter her freshman year at Rutgers University, New Brunswick in the fall. She plans to major in Finance at their Business School. Throughout high school, she spent her time running the school paper, competing at state/national debate competitions and working on her research project at the University of Pennsylvania. In her free time she enjoys spending time with friends, going on runs and reading.

Devroy shared, "Overall, I feel extremely excited and honored to be named a National Merit Scholar and plan to take advantage of this opportunity."

For more local news, visit TAPinto.net