Four Maine high school students will be joining the ranks of approximately 800 selected nationally this month who will be getting a little extra help towards the ever-rising costs of college this fall, thanks to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC).
Each year, tens of thousands of students nationally apply for NMSC scholarships, and awardees are selected based on their academic performance and essays submitted to the philanthropic organization.
NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was
founded in 1955 to conduct the National Merit Scholarship Program. Over the past 70 years, approximately 389,000 outstanding young individuals have won National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $1.4 billion. The majority of awards offered each year are underwritten by approximately 280 independent corporate and college sponsors that support NMSC’s efforts to recognize scholastically talented youth and encourage the pursuit of academic excellence.
Awardees headed to Maine post-secondary schools this fall include Tyto Proctor of Brunswick, who is going to Colby College in Waterville, Dvora Katz of Portland, who is headed to the University of Maine at Orono to study music, Carter Engelman of Raymond who is headed to Northeastern University in Boston to study music therapy, and Cooper Tarbuck of Readfield, also headed to Northeastern to study software engineering.
Scholarships range from $500 to $2,000. Rising seniors in high school this coming year can contact the Evanston, Illinois organization for more information on how to apply.
