PED NEWS RELEASE

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced today that eight New Mexico seniors have won corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship awards. They are among approximately 770 distinguished high school seniors to receive the honor.  

“I applaud both Batelle and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation for their celebration of academic excellence,” said Public Education Secretary Arsenio Romero. “Their commitment to nurturing talent and fostering student success exemplifies the essence of corporate responsibility.” 

Selected as winners of the National Merit Battelle Scholarship are: 

Karen W. Zhang  Albuquerque Academy, Albuquerque  Probable career field: Electrical Engineering  John Francesco Cawkwell  Los Alamos H. S., Los Alamos  Probable career field: Astrophysics  Finley Inglis  Los Alamos H. S., Los Alamos  Probable career field: Music  Lucy Caroline Kelley  Los Alamos H. S., Los Alamos  Probable career field: Environmental Science

Rebecca M. Li  Los Alamos H. S., Los Alamos  Probable career field: Psychiatry  Rosario E. Dodd  Los Alamos H. S., Los Alamos  Probable career field: Environmental Science  Minhtet Paing Htoon  Los Alamos H. S., Los Alamos  Probable career field: Engineering  Daniel S. Kim  Los Alamos H. S., Los Alamos  Probable career field: Electrical Engineering

Scholars were selected from students who advanced to the finalist level in the National Merit Scholarship competition and met 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 who plan to pursue college majors or careers the sponsor wishes to encourage. 

High school juniors entered the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. In September 2023, more than 16,000 semifinalists were designated 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 be considered for a National Merit Scholarship, semifinalists had to fulfill requirements to advance to finalist standing. Each semifinalist was asked to complete a detailed scholarship application, which included writing an essay and providing 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 SAT® or ACT® scores that confirmed their qualifying test performance. From the semifinalist group, over 15,000 met finalist requirements. 

By the conclusion of the 2024 competition, more than 6,870 finalists will have been selected to receive National Merit Scholarships totaling nearly $26 million.