$2,500 National Merit Scholarships Go To 14 Gwinnett Grads

GWINNETT COUNTY, GA — Fourteen high-school seniors from Gwinnett County are among 73 throughout Georgia to receive a $2,500 National Merit Scholarship for 2021. The latest winners were announced Wednesday.

They are:

• Morgan J. Bell, Archer High School, Lawrenceville
• William R. Bray, Brookwood High School, Snellville
• Madeline C. Busse, North Gwinnett High School, Suwanee
• Nikita R. Dandekar, Peachtree Ridge High School, Suwanee
• Isaac Y. Hwang, Peachtree Ridge High School, Suwanee
• Brian S. Ji, Peachtree Ridge High School, Suwanee
• Caren H. Kim, North Gwinnett High School, Suwanee
• Megha Mishra, North Gwinnett High School, Suwanee
• Sarah W. Park, North Gwinnett High School, Suwanee
• Steven Z. Vacha, North Gwinnett High School, Suwanee
• Eric J. Van Ness, Norcross High School
• Grace Wang, Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology, Lawrenceville
• Heyi Alina Zhang, Parkview High School, Lilburn
• Chelsea A. Zunun, St. Pius X Catholic High School

Wednesday's list is the second round of 2021 National Merit scholarships. The first round of corporate-sponsored National Merit scholarships was announced on April 21. Winners of college-sponsored scholarships will be announced in June and July.

For each state, the number of winners is proportional to the state’s percentage of the nation’s graduating high school seniors. The program says the winners are the finalists “judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills and potential for success in rigorous college studies.”

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.

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.”

RELATED: Seven Gwinnett Students Win National Merit Corporate Scholarships