Sonoma County Student Named National Merit Scholarship Winner

SEBASTOPOL, CA — A high school senior from Sonoma County was among 89 California high school seniors named winners for the 2021 corporate-sponsored National Merit® Scholarship Program.

The winners were announced Wednesday and include approximately 1,000 high school seniors from across the United States. According to a press release from the National Merit Scholarship Program, the corporate scholarships are financed by about 140 corporations, company foundations and other business organizations.

The awards are renewable for up to four years of undergraduate study and students get a stipend that's anywhere between $1,000 - $10,000 each year. Some of the awards include a single payment between $2,500-$5,000.

Fiona R. Irving-Beck, a student at Analy High School in Sebastopol whose probable career field is neuroscience, won the National Merit Senator Charles S. Robb Scholarship and a corporate sponsorship from the MITRE Corporation, a not-for-profit organization that provides systems engineering, research and development, and information technology support to the U.S. government.

More than 1.5 million students applied for the highly competitive National Merit Scholarship Program. Around 7,500 students will win scholarships in 2021 that total $30 million. Winners of the $2,500 scholarships and the college-sponsored scholarships will be announced later this year.