Three Ann Arbor high school students recently were awarded corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarships.
In September, 90 seniors from Ann Arbor public and private schools, Chelsea, Dexter, Manchester and Saline were named semifinalists in the 58th annual National Merit Scholarship Competition.
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation hands out three categories of scholarships every spring. The corporate-sponsored scholarship winners are the first of the three annual award announcements.
Alexander Kaldjian from Skyline High School, Joseph Sorenson from Father Gabriel Richard High School and Zibo Zou from Huron High School were the three Ann Arbor students who won corporate awards.
The remaining 87 Washtenaw County seniors still have a shot at a $2,500 merit scholarship or a college-sponsored award through the competition.
According to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, 1,000 high school seniors were given corporate scholarships this year that range from $500 to $10,000 per year of college. Often corporate sponsors give scholarships for national merit finalists who are children of employees, residents in the communities they serve or students who plan to pursue college majors or careers that the businesses wants to encourage, said a press release announcing the winners.
Kaldjian intends to seek a career in science or research, Sorenson is interested in mathematics and Zou plans to study engineering.
Each year, less than 1 percent of high school seniors earn the honor of being named a "National Merit Finalist."
Students enter the National Merit Scholarship Corporation contest automatically by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
To become a finalist and to have access to nearly 8,300 different scholarships — worth a total of more than $35 million — the semifinalist and his or her high school has to submit a detailed application providing the semifinalist's academic record, school and community activities, leadership abilities, and honors and awards they have received. The semifinalist also has to write an essay and earn SAT scores that confirm the student's earlier performance on his or her qualifying test to become a finalist, according to the news release.
Danielle Arndt covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. Follow her on Twitter @DanielleArndt or email her at daniellearndt@annarbor.com.