Reston Students Win College-Sponsored National Merit Scholarships

RESTON, VA — The third round of 2021 National Merit Scholarship winners have been announced, and Reston students are 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 the 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 two from Reston. Below are the winners.

• Daniel A. Heitz of Ideaventions Academy for Math and Science received an award from Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering and plans to study engineering.
• Sydney W. Gu of The Madeira School received an award from The University of Chicago and plans to study quantitative analysis.

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. 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.