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Four Del Norte High seniors are among the 87 in California and approximately 830 nationwide who have won 2025 corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarships.
The list, released on April 23, is the first of four rounds of winners. Those receiving the National Merit $2,500 Scholarships will be announced on May 7, while the college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be announced on June 4 and July 14, according to program officials.
In all, more than 6,930 students are expected to win awards in the 70th annual competition, with scholarships worth a combined total of $26 million, officials said in a press release.
The four Del Norte High students named in this first round were:
• Sean Chang, who is interested in business administration, received a National Merit Northrop Grumman Scholarship.
• Rayyan Darugar, who is interested in entrepreneurship, received a National Merit LPL Financial Scholarship.
• Alekhya Reddy, who is interested in medicine, received a National Merit ViaSat Scholarship.
• Steven Tong Zhu, who is interested in mechanical engineering, received a National Merit Novartis Scholarship.
The exact amounts of their awards were not announced. Many of the corporate-sponsored scholarships are renewable for up to four years of undergraduate study and range from $1,000 to $10,000 per year. There were also some one-time scholarships awarded that range from $2,500 to $5,000.
The corporate-sponsored scholarships were financed by 124 companies, company foundations and other business organizations, along with those from foundations and individual donors who have established endowments with NMSC.
The scholarships went to children of the corporation’s employees, residents of communities the companies serve or to students who plan to pursue college majors or careers the sponsor wants to encourage, officials said.
The finalists started their journey in the competition as high school juniors when they took the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Last September, more than 16,000 students were named semifinalists for being the highest-scoring entrants from each state, with proportions based on each state’s total of graduating seniors. The semifinalists represented less than 1% of the nation’s seniors.
To be considered as a finalist, they had to complete a detailed application, which included an essay and information on their extracurricular activities, awards and leadership positions. They also had to submit their academic record, an endorsement from a school official and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirmed their earlier test performance. Over 15,000 met finalist requirements.
Out of these, more than 6,930 finalists will be awarded scholarships.
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