New Milford Resident Wins National Merit Award

NEW MILFORD, CT — The National Merit Scholarship Corporation recently announced over 3,000 winners of scholarships funded by colleges and universities. Officials from each sponsor college selected the winners from among the finalists in the 2023 National Merit Scholarship program who plan to attend their institution.

Julianna Fontanilla, of New Milford, a senior at Shepaug Valley High School in Washington, CT, was awarded the National Merit University of Oklahoma Scholarship. She plans on studying Pharmacy.

These awards provide between $500 and $2000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study.

This year, 153 higher education institutions underwrote Merit Scholarship awards.

The scholars were chosen from a talent pool of more than 15,000 outstanding finalists in the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program.

This year’s National Merit Scholarship Program began in 2021 when high school juniors took the PSAT/NMSQT, which served as an initial screen of program entrants.

Last fall, the highest-scoring participants in each state, representing less than one percent of the nation’s high school seniors, were named semifinalists on a state-representational basis.

Each semifinalist was asked to submit a detailed scholarship application, which included writing an essay and providing information about extracurricular activities, awards, and leadership positions. Semifinalists also had to have an outstanding record, a recommendation from a high school official, and qualifying SAT or ACT scores.