WESTON, CT — The National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced Wednesday that more than 2,900 high school seniors have been awarded college-sponsored National Merit Scholarships, and Christian Seoane from Weston High School was among them.
The students, selected by officials from 146 colleges and universities, are among the Finalists in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program and have committed to attend the sponsoring institutions. Awards range from $500 to $2,000 annually and are renewable for up to four years.
Seoane is the recipient of the National Merit Indiana University Bloomington Scholarship.
Participating institutions include 74 private and 72 public colleges and universities across 42 states and the District of Columbia. Another round of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship winners will be named in July, bringing the total number of recipients for the 2025 competition to more than 3,600.
This is the third group of scholarship recipients announced this year by the Evanston-based nonprofit. Corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship winners were announced April 23, followed by recipients of the $2,500 National Merit Scholarships on May 7. In total, more than 6,930 students will receive National Merit Scholarships worth approximately $26 million in 2025.
Students entered the competition by taking the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) as juniors. The highest scorers in each state—less than 1 percent of graduating seniors nationwide—were named Semifinalists. More than 15,000 advanced to Finalist status after submitting academic records, essays, and recommendations, and meeting standardized test benchmarks.
The National Merit Scholarship Program, established in 1955, is privately funded and operates without government support. It is supported by about 280 corporate and college sponsors committed to promoting academic excellence and providing educational opportunities to top-performing students.
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