Eight JHS students receive National Merit scholarships
JOHNSTON, Ia. (June 2, 2022) — Eight recent graduates of Johnston High School received National Merit scholarships this year.
National Merit scholarships are a prestigious recognition of students who have top grades, good test scores and a of list accomplishments outside the classroom. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) began announcing scholarship winners in April; announcements are expected to wrap up in July. A total of 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $30 million are being awarded this year.
Three types of scholarships were offered as part of the 67th annual National Merit Scholarship Program: 2,500 National Merit $2,500 scholarships, about 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards, and 4,000 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards.
Among Johnston’s eight National Merit scholarship recipients, two received corporate scholarships: Ehler from Principal Life Insurance, and Singhal from Sogeti USA Scholarship. Six others received college-based scholarships: Sweet from the University of Arizona and Gogineni, Larson, Lindgren, Tanke and Zhang from the University of Iowa.
The eight National Merit scholarship winners were among 10 Johnston students who were named semifinalists in September and finalists in March.
High school juniors entered the 2022 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2020 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, included the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.
To become a finalist, the semifinalist and a high school official needed to submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and write an essay.
About 95 percent of the semifinalists were expected to attain finalist standing, and about half of the finalists won a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title.
NMSC is a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 400 business organizations and higher education institutions that share NMSC’s goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.
Read related stories:
Ten JHS students named National Merit finalists
Ten JHS students named NMSC semifinalists