Charlotte Students Score College-Sponsored Merit Scholarships

CHARLOTTE, NC — The National Merit Scholarship Corporation named 63 North Carolina high school students as College-Sponsored Merit Scholarship winners Wednesday morning. About a fourth of the students on the list of students from the Tar Heel State announced June 6 were from the Queen City metro region.

The awards range between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study. This year, 178 higher education institutions located in 44 states and the District of Columbia are sponsoring the awards. An additional group of scholars will be announced in July, bringing the total number of college-sponsored recipients to about 4,000.

The scholarships announced June 6 represent the third round of National Merit Scholarships announced in 2018. A fourth round will be announced July 16, representing a total of $31 million in scholarships awarded to about 7,500 students.

Below are the College-sponsored Merit Scholarship winners from the Charlotte metro region, their hometowns and their schools:

• Ian R. Bodenheimer of Charlotte, N.C. — Providence High School
• Adam M. Burke of Charlotte, N.C. — Providence Day School
• Delaney Karelynn Caldwell of Charlotte, N.C. — Providence Day School
• Caspar V. Caudill of Charlotte, N.C. — Providence High School
• Katlyn M. Gonzalez of Charlotte, N.C. — Providence Day School
• Alexander P. Harrison of Charlotte, N.C. — Charlotte Latin School
• Carey S. Leech of Charlotte, N.C. — Providence Day School
• Vaibhav M. Pachalla of Charlotte, N.C. — Providence Day School
• Adina R. Peck of Charlotte, N.C. — Charlotte Country Day School
• Kaela M. Sanborn of Charlotte, N.C. — Providence Day School
• Jack S. Walton of Charlotte, N.C. — Independence High School
• Lily Zheng of Charlotte, N.C. — Charlotte Latin School
• Graeme P. Elrod of Davidson, N.C. — William Amos Hough High School (Cornelius, N.C.)
• Natalie L. Monzavifar of Davidson, N.C. — Community School of Davidson
• Megan E. Hott of Mooresville, N.C. — Lake Norman High School
• Grace Steffen of Mooresville, N.C. — North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (Durham, N.C.)

Over 1.6 million students were entered into the competition by taking the Preliminary SATs as juniors, which narrowed down to 15,000 finalists. Semifinalists submitted additional applications with an essay, information about extracurricular activities, leadership positions and awards, and a recommendation from a school official.

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