Freedom HS Seniors Win National Merit Scholarship

SOUTH RIDING, VA — Freedom High School's Joseph H. Chang and Nathan J. Whitaker are two of 3,200 college-sponsored grant winners announced Wednesday by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Chang plans to study engineering at the University of Oklahoma while Whitaker plans to study medicine at Lehigh Univresity.

They were among 28 chosen from Virginia. Financed by 182 colleges and universities, the scholarships provide between $500 and $2,000 each year for up to four years of an undergraduate program. The sponsoring colleges include 103 private and 79 public institutions in 44 states and DC.

Earlier in the spring, winners of corporate-sponsored and $2,500 National Merit Scholarships were announced. More winners will be announced in July, bringing the total of college-sponsored scholarships to 4,000. In all, 7,500 high school seniors will receive $32 million in National Merit Scholarships, sponsored by both corporations and higher education institutions.

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Students were entered into the competition by taking the Preliminary SATs as juniors. In the fall, 16,000 semifinalists were named, representing less than 1 percent of the country's seniors. 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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