Richland Two has 10 National Merit Scholarship finalists

February 28, 2024

Ten seniors in Richland School District Two are closer to their goal of earning National Merit Scholarships. Zachary J. Burnett and Eva D. Pendleton of Blythewood High School; Sanvi V. Divekar, Jackson L. Dowey, Shrihan Ganesh Babu, Abagail B. Greer, Emma K. Hook, Jisoo Lee, Ava J. Phelps, Iraine Y. Taine of Spring Valley High School have been named finalists in the scholarship program.

They are competing for some 7,140 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28 million being offered this spring. Finalists compete for three types of National Merit Scholarships. Every finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit® $2500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state-representational basis. About 840 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be provided by approximately 160 corporations and business organizations for finalists who meet their specified criteria, such as children of the grantor’s employees or residents of communities where sponsor plants or offices are located. In addition, about 160 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 3,800 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.

Over 1.3 million high school juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants.