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The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) recently announced this year’s Corporate-Sponsored National Merit Scholarship winners, the first group of winners in the 69th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. The list includes four seniors from Walton High School and Wheeler High School.
Approximately 770 distinguished high school seniors were announced as winners of the corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship awards, which are financed by about 94 corporations, company foundations, and other business organizations.
Scholars were selected from students who advanced to the Finalist level in the National Merit Scholarship competition and met the criteria of their scholarship sponsors. Corporate sponsors provide National Merit Scholarships for Finalists who are children of their employees, residents of communities the company serves, or who plan to pursue college majors or careers the sponsor wishes to encourage.
Most of these awards are renewable for up to four years of college undergraduate study and provide annual stipends that range from $1,000 to $10,000 per year. Some provide a single payment between $2,500 and $5,000. Recipients can use their awards at any regionally accredited U.S. college or university of their choice.
Funding for these National Merit Scholarships is provided by corporate organizations that represent nearly all sectors of American industry. Sponsors from the business community have underwritten awards in all 69 competitions, expending or committing more than $870 million to support the intellectual development of the nation’s scholastically talented youth.
High school juniors entered the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. In September 2023, more than 16,000 Semifinalists were designated 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, representing less than one percent of the nation’s seniors.
To be considered for a National Merit Scholarship, Semifinalists had to fulfill requirements to advance to Finalist standing. Each Semifinalist was asked to complete a detailed scholarship application, which included writing an essay and providing information about extracurricular activities, awards, and leadership positions. Semifinalists also had to have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and earn SAT® or ACT® scores that confirmed their qualifying test performance. From the Semifinalist group, over 15,000 met Finalist requirements.
By the conclusion of the 2024 competition, more than 6,870 Finalists will have been selected to receive National Merit Scholarships totaling nearly $26 million. Winners are the Finalist candidates judged to have the strongest combination of academic skills and achievements, extracurricular accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies.
NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 to conduct the National Merit Scholarship Program. Most National Merit Scholarships offered each year are underwritten by some 320 independent corporate and college sponsors that support NMSC’s efforts to honor the nation’s scholastically talented youth and encourage academic excellence at all levels of education.
2024 Cobb Schools Corporate-Sponsored National Merit Scholarship Winners:
James P. Davis, Walton High School
Probable career field: Computer Science
National Merit Liberty Mutual Scholarship: Founded in 1912 in Massachusetts to coincide with the enactment of the workers’ compensation law, Liberty Mutual is now the largest underwriter of that type of insurance in addition to insuring all other forms of coverage, including life insurance, international insurance, and financial services.
Shria S. Manikkoth, Walton High School
Probable career field: Law
National Merit Leidos, Inc. Scholarship: Headquartered in Reston, VA, Leidos is a global science and technology solutions and services leader working to solve the world’s toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, homeland security, civil, and health markets. The company’s 32,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers.
Venya N. Gunjal, Wheeler High School
Probable career field: Medicine
National Merit Truist Scholarship: Winston-Salem-based Truist Financial Corporation operates banking offices in the Carolinas, Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Indiana, Florida, and Washington, DC. Truist and its subsidiaries offer full-service commercial and retail banking and additional financial services such as insurance, investments, retail brokerage, corporate finance, international banking, leasing, and trust. Truist awards are offered to the children of employees of the Truist family.
Asmita Saraswat, Wheeler High School
Probable career field: Industrial Engineering
National Merit Truist Scholarship: Winston-Salem-based Truist Financial Corporation operates banking offices in the Carolinas, Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Indiana, Florida, and Washington, DC. Truist and its subsidiaries offer full-service commercial and retail banking and additional financial services such as insurance, investments, retail brokerage, corporate finance, international banking, leasing, and trust. Truist awards are offered to the children of employees of the Truist family.
