Leesburg Student Wins College-Sponsored Merit Scholarship

LEESBURG, VA — The third round of 2021 National Merit Scholarship winners have been announced, and one student from Leesburg is in the mix.

Over 3,100 winners are receiving National Merit Scholarships sponsored by U.S. colleges or universities they plan to attend. The scholarships provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at a higher education institution. Sponsor colleges and universities include 85 private and 75 public institutions in 42 states and D.C.

There were 41 winners from Virginia, including one from Leesburg. Below are the winners.

• Eric Schreiber
  • Awarded from Purdue University
  • Plans to study aerospace engineering

Three other winners from Ashburn-area schools also received scholarships during the third round of awards.

The first announcement of college-sponsored awards comes after winners of corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards were announced in April and National Merit Scholarship Corporation's own $2,500 scholarships were announced in May. 9 students from Loudoun County received scholarships from the corporation last month, including 1 from Leesburg and 1 from Purcellville. 7 other winners from last month's scholarships were from Ashburn.

Read more: National Merit Scholarships: 9 Loudoun Students Are Winners

More college-sponsored award winners will be announced on July 12, bringing the total of college-sponsored awards to about 4,000.

To be entered for the National Merit Scholarship competition, over 1.5 million students were entered as juniors taking the PSAT in 2019. In fall 2020, around 17,000 semifinalists were named based on each state's proportion of graduating seniors. Semifinalists were the top scoring entrants in their states and represent less than 1 percent of seniors in the U.S.

To be considered for finalist status, semifinalists had to submit a detailed scholarship application with an essay and details on extracurricular activities, awards, and leadership positions as well as demonstrate an outstanding academic record and have an endorsement from a high school official. Around 16,000 finalists met requirements for finalists status and were eligible to be chosen for corporate-sponsored, National Merit Scholarship-sponsored and college-sponsored awards.

In all, about 7,500 students will win National Merit Scholarships worth $30 million in 2021.