Trio Of Glencoe Residents Awarded National Merit Scholarships

GLENCOE, IL — Three Glencoe residents and recent New Trier Township graduates were this month awarded National Merit college scholarships. They join eight members of New Trier's class of 2020 from Wilmette and one each from Kenilworth and Glenview in receiving the prestigious honor. The final scholarship winners are scheduled to be announced in July, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, an Evanston-based nonprofit.

Each college-sponsored scholarship provides between $500 and $2,000 every year for up to four years of undergraduate study, according to National Merit. This year, there are 167 colleges and universities underwriting about 4,100 college sponsored scholarships. They include 92 private schools and 75 public ones spanning 43 states and Washington, D.C. The winners are picked from about 15,000 National Merit finalists by school officials from the sponsoring institutions.

According to National Merit, winners of college-sponsored scholarships from the class of 2020 include the following Glencoe grads:

Maia C. Law, who plans to pursue a career in music, was awarded a scholarship to Indiana University Bloomington.

Jane L. Rosin, who plans to pursue a career in biomedicine, was awarded a scholarship to the University of Chicago.

Talia M. Schacht, who plans to pursue a career in international development, was awarded a scholarship to the University of Southern California.

Last fall, National Merit named 35 seniors from New Trier High School, 11 from Loyola Academy and two from North Shore as National Merit semifinalists.

Earlier: Loyola, New Trier Students Among 48 Area National Merit Semifinalists

Another approximately 800 winners of college-sponsored scholarships will be announced in July, bringing the total number of winners from the class of 2020 to about 7,600, according to the nonprofit.

In addition to the college-sponsored awards, National Merit picks 2,500 winners of the cash scholarships among those judged to have the "strongest combination of accomplishments, skills and potential for success in rigorous college studies." Each state's number of winners is proportional to its share of the nation's population.

More than $30 million in scholarships will have been awarded by the end of this year's competition, according to National Merit.

In addition to cash and college-sponsored scholarships, the nonprofit awards corporate-sponsored scholarships, most of which are restricted to the family of participating employers.