Two students from the Perkiomen Valley region were named college-sponsored National Merit Scholarship winners.
John Z. Du, of Collegeville, a Methacton High School senior, received the National Merit University of Maryland Scholarship, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. He looks to apply the scholarship toward computer science at the university.
There are three University of Maryland campuses. The College Park campus provides a large and active general honors program. The Eastern Shore campus offers a small college environment with a selective honors program leading to admission to the university's professional schools. At Baltimore County, students will find a medium-sized state university campus with particularly strong programs in the Arts and Sciences, according to NMSC.
Joining Du in the elite class is Perkiomen School senior Roman J. Chernesky, of Douglassville, who received the National Merit University of Oklahoma Scholarship. Chernesky plans to major in civil engineering.
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a doctoral degree-granting research university serving the educational, cultural, economic,and health care needs of the state, region, and nation, and comprises 19 colleges, according to NMSC.
Du and Chernesky 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.
