16 Colorado Students Are National Merit Scholarship Winners

Sixteen Colorado students have been named winners for the 2021 corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship Program.

The winners were announced on Wednesday and include approximately 1,000 high-school seniors from across the U.S. 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.

More than 1.5 million students applied for the highly competitive scholarship and the program says that around 7,500 students will go on to 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.

Here are the Colorado winners for the corporate-sponsored scholarships:

• Jacqueline M. Pankratz, Arvada West High School: National Merit Emerson Electric Co. Scholarship
• Eleanor R. Greene, Fairview High School, Boulder: National Merit Battelle Scholarship
• Zoe Martin, Canon City High School, National Merit General Dynamics Corporation Scholarship
• Nicholas R. Henley, Rock Canyon High School, Littleton: National Merit Gates Industrial Corporation Foundation Scholarship
• Anthony S. Rabinkov, Cherry Creek High School, Greenwood Village: National Merit S&P Global Scholarship
• Kiara N Casmer, Rampart High School, Colorado Springs: National Merit Northrop Grumman Scholarship
• Natalie R. Wadhwa, Byers High School, Denver: National Merit 3M Scholarship
• Brendan McCune, Greeley West High School: National Merit State Farm Companies Foundation Scholarship
• Kevin A. Reyes, Regis Jesuit High School, Aurora: National Merit - The PWC Charitable Foundation Scholarship
• Kyra D. Bowden, Thunder Ridge High School, Highlands Ranch: National Merit Boeing Scholarship
• Anna M. Reimers, Rock Canyon High School, Littleton: National Merit Emerson Electric Co. Scholarship
• Harrison M. Witt, Mountain Vista High School, Highlands Ranch: National Merit Hormel Foods Corporation Charitable Trust Scholarship
• Haley J. Maddocks, Centaurus High School, Lafayette: National Merit Jerry R. Junkins Memorial Scholarship
• Aaron C. Jimenez, Golden View Classical Academy, Golden: National Merit Battelle Scholarship
• Kevin Li, Lakewood High School, National Merit Battelle Scholarship
• Anastasia M Damick, Longmont High School, National Merit Novartis Scholarship

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A total of 16,000 students were selected as finalists for the scholarships and the final winners are candidates “judged to have the strongest combination of academic skills and achievements, extracurricular accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies.”