Fernandina Beach High School Senior receives National Merit Scholarship

National Merit Scholarship Corporation
www.nationalmerit.org
May 2, 2018 9:00 a.m.

Josie Kilburn

Editor’s Note: Josie L. Kilburn, a senior at Fernandina Beach High School, was awarded a CSX Leadership National Merit Scholarship. According to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, Kilburn is one of 18 seniors throughout Florida to receive a corporate-sponsored merit scholarship. Kilburn plans to major in engineering.

CSX Corporation, based in Jacksonville, Fla., is one of the nation’s leading transportation companies, connecting customers to ports, distribution centers and markets across the eastern United States. Through grass-roots volunteerism and focused corporate giving, CSX is committed to supporting the communities where it operates.

Corporate-Sponsored Merit Scholarship Winners

Today [April 18, 2018], National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) released the names of the first group of winners in the 63rd annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Approximately 1,000 distinguished high school seniors have won corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship awards financed by about 200 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 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.

Most of these awards are renewable for up to four years of college undergraduate study and provide annual stipends that range from $500 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.

Corporate-Sponsored Merit Scholarship Winners

Funding for these National Merit Scholarships is provided by corporate organizations that represent nearly all sectors of American industry. Sponsors from the business community have underwritten awards offered in all 63 competitions, expending or committing more than $789 million to support the intellectual development of the nation’s scholastically talented youth.

2018 National Merit Scholarship Competition

Over 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2016 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship

Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. In September 2017, some 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 Semifi nalist 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® scores that confi rmed their qualifying test performance. From the Semifinalist group, some 15,000 met Finalist requirements.

By the conclusion of the 2018 competition, about 7,500 Finalists will have been selected to receive National Merit Scholarships totaling over $31 million. Winners are the Finalist candidates judged to have the strongest combination of academic skills and achievements, extracurricular accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies.

NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 to conduct the National Merit Scholarship Program. The majority of National Merit Scholarships offered each year are underwritten by some 410 independent corporate and college sponsors that support NMSC’s efforts to honor the nation’s scholastically talented youth and encourage academic excellence at all levels of education.