Sikeston graduate earns National Merit scholarship

Monday, June 8, 2015

EVANSTON, Ill. - A 2015 Sikeston High School graduate is among National Merit Scholarship winners.

According to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation Kaitlyn P. Ayers of Sikeston is one of approximately 2,200 winners of National Merit Scholarships financed by U.S. colleges and universities. Ayers lists her probable career field as biomedical engineering and received the National Merit Vanderbilt University Scholarship.

Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among the finalists in the 2015 National Merit Scholarship Program who plan to attend their institution. These awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship. An additional group of Scholars will be announced in July, bringing the total number of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship recipients in the 2015 competition to approximately 4,100.

This year, 184 higher education institutions are underwriting Merit Scholarship awards through the National Merit Scholarship Program. Sponsor colleges and universities include 107 private and 77 public institutions located in 44 states and the District of Columbia.

College-sponsored Merit Scholarship winners are a part of the distinguished group of about 7,600 high school seniors who will receive National Merit Scholarships for college undergraduate study worth approximately $34 million. Earlier this spring, NMSC announced winners of corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards and National Merit $2500 Scholarships.

2015 National Merit Scholarship Competition

Over 1.4 million juniors in some 22,000 high schools entered the 2015 National Merit Scholarship competition when they took the 2013 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Last fall, approximately 16,000 Semifinalists were named on a state-representational basis in numbers proportional to each state's percentage of the national total of graduating high school seniors. Semifinalists were the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and represented less than one percent of the nation's seniors.

To compete for Merit Scholarship awards, Semifinalists first had to advance to the Finalist level of the competition by fulfilling additional requirements. Each Semifinalist was asked to submit a detailed scholarship application, which included writing an essay and provid- ing information about extracurricular activities, awards, and leadership positions. Semifinalists also had to have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and earn SATŪ scores that confirmed the qualifying test performance. From the Semifinalist group, some 15,000 met requirements for Finalist standing, and more than half of the Finalists will be Merit Scholarship winners in 2015.

NMSC, a not-for-profit corporation that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 to conduct the National Merit Scholarship Program. The majority of National Merit Scholarships provided each year are made possible by the support of approximately 440 independent corporate and college sponsors. These sponsors join NMSC in its efforts to enhance educational opportunities for America's scholastically talented youth and to encourage the pursuit of academic excellence.