The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced that three Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) seniors were selected as 2022 Corporate-Sponsored National Merit Scholarship Award winners, earning corporate-sponsored scholarships to help fund their college education. These National Merit Scholars are part of a group of distinguished students nationwide judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies. Corporate-Sponsored National Merit Scholarship winners from Gwinnett are:

Ambika L. Manjunath of Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology

Probable career field: Science/Research

NATIONAL MERIT NORFOLK SOUTHERN SCHOLARSHIP

Norfolk Southern has an educational aid program which furthers educational opportunities by supporting higher learning. In addition to these scholarships which are supported by Norfolk Southern Foundation, Norfolk Southern has an employee tuition assistance program and a matching gifts program. Norfolk Southern operates approximately 21,300 route miles in 22 eastern states, the District of Columbia, and Ontario, Canada.

Aria N. Jasper of Mill Creek High School

Probable career field: Business Management

NATIONAL MERIT ADP HENRY TAUB MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP

Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP), with over $7 billion in revenues and 500,000 clients, is one of the largest independent computing services in the United States. Merit Scholarship awards are funded by the ADP Foundation for the children of ADP employees.

Christine J. Ao of Peachtree Ridge High School

Probable career field: Computer Science

NATIONAL MERIT VIASAT SCHOLARSHIP

ViaSat, Inc., provides Merit Scholarship awards to the children of employees as part of its commitment to higher education.

These students are among the first group of winners in the 67th annual National Merit Scholarship program. Approximately 1,000 distinguished high school seniors across the country have won corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship awards financed by more than 130 corporations, company foundations, and other business organizations.

Scholars were selected from students who advanced to the finalist level in the National Merit Scholarship competition and met the criteria of their scholarship sponsors. Corporate sponsors provide National Merit Scholarships for finalists who are children of their employees, who are residents of communities the company serves, or students who plan to pursue college majors or careers the sponsor wishes to encourage.

Most corporate-funded awards are renewable for up to four years of college undergraduate study and provide annual stipends that range from $1,000 to $10,000 per year. Some provide a single payment between $2,500 and $5,000. Recipients can use their awards at any regionally accredited U.S. college or university of their choice.

High school juniors entered the 2022 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2020 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants.  The highest-scoring participants in each state were then selected as semifinalists. From the semifinalist group, more than 15,000 met the very high academic standards and other requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition.

This is the first announcement of National Merit Scholars in 2022 by National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC^®). NMSC also will name recipients of National Merit^® $2,500 Scholarships later in May, and winners of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards in June and July. By the conclusion of this year’s competition, about 7,500 academic champions will have won National Merit Scholarships worth approximately $28 million.

For more information about the NMSC, send an email to mediainfo@nmerit.net or call (847) 866-5100.