15 WCPSS Seniors Earn 2010 National Merit College-Sponsored Scholarships
May 26, 2010 - Fifteen Wake County Public School System seniors have earned 2010 National Merit College-sponsored Scholarships.The fifteen students are from eight high schools:
| Apex High | Mary E. Koenig |
| Enloe Magnet High | Matthew A. Baltzell, Tyler P. Grant, Alexandra Kuznetsov, Ryan T. McGarvey, Madeline L. White |
| Fuquay-Varina High | Shane V. Lympany |
| Green Hope High | Amanda L. Gurkin |
| Leesville Road High | Jessica N. Golden, Brian F. Jackson |
| Panther Creek High | Mary E. Mudd, Gayatri Surendranathan, Elizabeth A. Whitfield |
| Sanderson High | Christopher G. Schaeffer |
| Wakefield High | Burton J. Westermeier |
The 15 students received scholarships from four universities with most earning their scholarships from UNC-Chapel Hill:
| UNC-Chapel Hill | Jessica N. Golden, Tyler P. Grant, Amanda L. Gurkin, Brian F. Jackson, Mary E. Koenig, Ryan T. McGarvey, Mary E. Mudd, Christopher G. Schaeffer, Gayatri Surendranathan, Burton J. Westermeier, Madeline L. White, Elizabeth A. Whitfield |
| Auburn University | Matthew A. Baltzell |
| Georgia Tech | Shane V. Lympany |
| University of Rochester | Alexandra Kuznetsov |
The 15 WCPSS students are among more than 2,800 winners of National Merit Scholarships financed by colleges and universities, announced today by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among Finalists in the 2010 National Merit Scholarship Program 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.
More than 1.5 million juniors in over 22,000 high schools entered the 2010 National Merit Scholarship competition when they took the 2008 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test which served as an initial screen of program entrants.
Last fall, some 16,000 semifinalists were designated on a state representational basis, in numbers proportional to each state’s percentage of the nation’s high school graduating seniors. Semifinalists were the highest scoring program entrants in each state and represented less than one percent of a state’s seniors.
To be considered for National Merit Scholarship awards, semifinalists had to fulfill requirements to advance to finalists standing. In addition to submitting a detailed scholarship application, which included an essay describing activities, interests and goals, semifinalists had to have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a school official and earn SAT scores that confirmed their qualifying test performance. Some 15,000 semifinalists met finalist requirements.
By the conclusion of the 2010 competition, about 8,400 finalists will be selected to receive National Merit Scholarships totaling more than $36 million.
-wcpss-