National Merit Scholarship Program
A Gwynedd Mercy Academy High School senior from Perkasie and a Pope John Paul II High School senior from Harleysville were recently selected as winners of the National Merit college-sponsored scholarship.
Gwynedd Mercy Academy’s Jenna Morrison received the National Merit Fordham University Scholarship and will apply it toward her passion of actuarial science.
Fordham University, a Jesuit University of New York, has a residential Gothic campus on 85 acres in the Bronx and a second residential center called Lincoln Center in Manhattan, according to NMSC. The university has more than 9,500 undergraduates and more than 60 majors.
Harleysville resident Matthew Rampulla received the National Merit Rochester Institute of Technology Scholarship. Rampulla aims to major in computer engineering.
The Rochester Institute of Technology, in New York, is an independent, coeducational university dedicated to providing technology-based educational programs for lifelong career preparation. It enrolls 20,000 undergraduate and graduate students in more than 230 degree programs.
Morrison and Rampulla were two of 2,900 winners from the United States selected from a gigantic pool of candidates, which was whittled down to 16,000 semi-finalists.
National Merit Scholarship will announce a second round of about 3,000 winners in July.
Officials of each sponsor college selected winners based on finalists who plan to attend their respective institution. The awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study.
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation is a rigorous competition for academic recognition and scholarships that began in 1955. High school students enter the National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®) which serves as an initial screen of approximately 1.6 million entrants each year and by meeting published program entry and participation requirements.
There are three types of scholarships offered to students: the National Merit $2,500 Scholarship, college-sponsored Merit Scholarship, and corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship. Depending on the sponsor, renewable scholarships can range from $1,000 to $10,000 per year, while nonrenewable scholarships offer $2,500 to $5,000. Combined, these scholarships are worth tens of millions of dollars, with last year’s totaling to $36 million. Each award is an incredible honor, recognizing designees’ diligence and commitment to education.
By the end of this year’s competition, more than 6,870 academic champions will have won scholarships worth about $26 million, according to the NMSC.
