AC student named winner of National Corporate Merit Scholarship

EVANSTON, IL.-The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) today released the names of the first group of winners in the 67th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

Approximately 1,000 distinguished high school seniors have won corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship awards financed by about 136 corporations, company foundations, and other business organizations.

One of the students honored was Andrew J. Schwartz of Decatur, a student at Adams Central High School, who will be attending Purdue University in West Lafayette to major in Game Development. Schwartz was named as a recipient of the National Merit Bunge Scholarship.

Funding for the National Corporate Merit Scholarships is provided by corporate organizations such as Bunge and those businesses represent nearly all sectors of American industry. Sponsors from the business community have underwritten awards offered in competitions and have expended or committed nearly $847 million to support the intellectual development of the nation’s scholasticallytalented youth.

Schwartz is the son of Doug and Briana Schwartz. According to Adams Central High School principal Jeff McCullough, the scholarship recipient is among the top of his senior class in grade point average.

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. Doug Schwartz is employed at the Decatur Bunge plant.

Most of these awards are renewable for up to four years of college undergraduate study and provide annual stipends that range from $1,000 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.

CorporateSponsored Merit Scholarship Winners-In September 2021, more than 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.