The National Merit Scholarship Corporation has announced that Shaker Heights High School senior Ari Smith is the recipient of a National Merit Oberlin College Scholarship.
More than 1.4 million students from over 22,000 high schools entered the 2015 National Merit Scholarship competition when they took the 2013 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) as high school juniors. In September 2014, some 16,000 Semifinalists were designated on a state representational basis, in numbers proportional to each state's percentage of the nation's high school graduating seniors. Semifinalists were the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and represented less than one percent of the nation’s seniors. Scholarship winners were chosen based on their academic record, including difficulty level of subjects studied and grades earned; contributions and leadership in school and community activities; an essay describing interests and goals; and a written recommendation from a school official.
The college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards category is one of several scholarship categories to be announced this year in conjunction with the National Merit, National Achievement, and National Hispanic Scholarship programs. Earlier this year, Zicheng (Brian) Gao, Cherie Lo, Mark McKinzie, Benjamin Robertson, Gabrielle Rose, and Abby White were named National Merit $2500 Scholarship winners. Grant Zempolich was named a Corporate-Sponsored Merit Scholarship winner.