Metro students earn Merit Scholarships

The National Merit Scholarship Corp. announced the names of more than 800 additional winners of National Merit Scholarships financed by colleges and universities, including six students from the metro area.

The Merit Scholar designees join about 3,000 other college-sponsored award recipients announced in June.

Officials of each sponsor college chose their scholarship winners from among the finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program who will attend their institutions.

College-sponsored awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship.

The final group of winners brings the number of 2016 National Merit Scholars to more than 7,300. The distinguished high school graduates will receive scholarships for undergraduate study worth about $33 million.

In addition to college-sponsored awards, two other types of National Merit Scholarships were offered — 2,500 National Merit $2,500 Scholarships, for which all finalists competed, and about 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for finalists who met criteria specified by their granter organizations.

Metro-area students receiving scholarships in this round were:

Sullivan W. Marks, Edmond Memorial High School, National Merit University of Oklahoma Scholarship.

Victoria Ann Morrison, Edmond Santa Fe High School, National Merit University of Oklahoma Scholarship.

Kermit L. Alexander, Jones, homeschool, National Merit University of Texas at Dallas Scholarship.

Logesvar Balaguru, Norman North High School, National Merit University of Oklahoma Scholarship.

Adrienne E. Poynter, Norman High School, National Merit University of Oklahoma Scholarship.

Noah Russell Baker, Oklahoma City, Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School, National Merit University of Oklahoma Scholarship.