Rancho Palos Verdes Student Wins National Merit Scholarship

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, CA — A high school student from Rancho Palos Verdes was among more than 540 additional winners of National Merit Scholarships financed by colleges and universities, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced Monday.

Dylon B. Shiao, a Palos Verdes High School student, received the National Merit University of Southern California (USC) Scholarship. Their probable career field is computer science, the press release said.

Shiao and the other Merit Scholar designees join more than 3,500 other college-sponsored award recipients who were announced in June, the press release said. Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from the Finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program who will attend their school. College-sponsored awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship, NMSC said.

This year, 173 colleges and universities — including 95 private and 78 public institutions from 43 states and the District of Columbia — are sponsoring about 4,100 Merit Scholarship awards, according to NMSC. This is the last group of National Merit Scholar designees to be announced in 2019 by NMSC.

There were more than 7,600 National Merit Scholars in 2019, the press release said. These distinguished high school graduates will receive scholarships for undergraduate study worth more than $31 million total.