Paul Wilkens
Plainfield Central High School senior Phoebe Snydersmith and Plainfield North High School senior Paul Wilkens have been named 2016 National Merit Scholarship Award recipients.
They are among 2,500 students nationwide to win a $2,500 National Merit Scholarship, underwritten directly by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
Snydersmith and Wilkens were chosen from among about 15,000 finalists nationwide. The finalists, announced last fall also included PNHS senior Emily Terian and Plainfield South High School senior Amanda Swanson.
These exceptional students were chosen by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors based on their academic records, scores from standardized tests, contributions to and leadership in school and community activities. Finalists also had to write an essay and submit a recommendation from a high school official.
Phoebe Snydersmith
More than 1.5 million high school juniors in over 22,000 high schools nationwide entered the 2015-16 National Merit Program by taking the 2014 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
The 2015-2016 school year is the 61st year of the prestigious program, which honors academically talented high school seniors. By the end of this year’s competition, about 7,500 academic champions will have won various National Merit program scholarships worth about $33 million.
More than 1,000 corporate-sponsored scholarships were awarded earlier this spring, funded by corporations and business organizations for finalists who meet those organizations’ criteria. Swanson won a National Merit corporate scholarship award funded by the Walgreens Corporation.
About 4,000 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be announced in June and July.