Corporate Sponsored Merit Scholarship Winners Named

The first group of Merit Scholarship winners of 2006 were announced on Wednesday, April 19, by officials of National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Approximately 1,000 outstanding high school seniors will receive corporate sponsored Merit Scholarship awards financed by some 300 companies, foundations, and other business organizations.

More than 1.3 million juniors in nearly 21,000 high schools across the nation entered the 2006 Merit Scholarship competition when they took the 2004 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship qualifying test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants.

Scholars named were selected from students who advanced to the finalist level in the National Merit Scholarship Program and met the criteria of their scholarship sponsors. Corporate sponsors generally provide Merit Scholarship awards for finalists who are children of their employees, residents of communities the company serves or have plans to pursue majors or careers the grantor wishes to encourage.

Most corporate sponsored scholarships are renewable for up to four years of college undergraduate study and range from $500 to $10,000 per year. Others provide a single payment between $2,500 and $5,000. Recipients can use the awards at a regionally accredited college or university of their choice.

Newtown High School seniors Megan Rawson and Celia Song were named 2006 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship winners. Megan, who has an interest in engineering, received a scholarship from Boehringer Ingelheim Corporation, a major human and animal health care products company. Celia, who also has an interest in pursuing a career in engineering, received a scholarship from CIBA Specialty Chemicals Corporation, a global leader in the discovery, manufacturing, and marketing of specialty chemicals.