Eight WCPSS Students Earn 2010 National Merit $2,500 Scholarships
May 6, 2010 - Eight Wake County Public School System students have earned 2010 National Merit $2,500 Scholarships.The eight WCPSS students are Ryan K. Minster and Eric B. Porter of Apex High; Patrick A. Royal of Broughton High; Thomas A. Pendlebury and Monica B. Tabor of Cary High; Shiv P. Parikh of Enloe High; Joanna U. Kim of Green Hope High; and Anand Kannan of Panther Creek High.
The eight WCPSS students are among 2,500 students who have won National merit $2,500 Scholarships. They were chosen from more than 15,000 outstanding Finalists in the 2010 National Merit Scholarship Program.
National Merit $2,500 Scholarship winners are the Finalists in each state judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills and potential for success in rigorous college studies. The students receive a one-time scholarship of $2,500 that may be used at any regionally accredited US college or university.
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.
The 16,000 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.
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