3 Tri-City seniors named 2024 corporate National Merit winners

Three high school seniors from the Tri-Cities were named National Merit Scholarship winners this week and are due to receive corporate-sponsored scholarships for college.

They’re among 770 distinguished winners who will take home scholarships this year financed by 94 corporations, company foundations and business organizations.

But by the conclusion of the 2024 program, more than 6,870 academic champions will have won thousands of National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million.

The trio of Tri-City winners will receive the National Merit Battelle Scholarship. A dollar amount was not listed in the National Merit Scholarship Corporation’s Wednesday announcement.

Corporate scholarship recipients are students who are either children of employees, residents within the company’s community, or who plan on pursuing college majors or careers the sponsor wishes to encourage.

Battelle Memorial Institute

manages the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, under a contract with the federal Department of Energy.

Luke S. Berglin of Hanford High School, Richland. Career of interest: Aerospace engineering.

Anita O. Valdez of Pasco High School, Pasco. Career of interest: Chemical engineering. John C. Orrell of Hanford High School. Career of interest: Physics.

The students are among the highest academically achieving in the nation.

National Merit semifinalists were considered for placement in the program after taking the 2022 preliminary SAT test during their junior year. The 16,000 semifinalists represent less than 1% of the U.S.’s highest-scoring test takers.

To become a finalist, students had to submit a scholarship application detailing their academic record, participation in school and community activities, leadership activities, employment and list any honors or awards received.

Most semifinalists go on to become finalists. And about half of the program’s finalists will earn the grand prize: A National Merit Scholarship worth $2,500.

The National Merit corporation will announce its 2,500 National Merit Scholarship winners on May 8. Winners of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be announced later on June 5 and July 15.