Three Ridgefield Students Receive National Merit Scholarships

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation on Wednesday announced this year’s National Merit $2,500 Scholarship winners.

Ridgefield High School's Colleen M. Keenan and Nicholas J. Patterson were among the winners. In addition, Truelian Lee, a Ridgefielder who attends Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford was also named among the winners.

The $2,500 Merit Scholar winners were chosen from a pool of more than 15,000 finalists in the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program.

National Merit Scholarship winners are the students in each state judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, according to an overview of the program. The number of winners named in each state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the nation’s graduating high school seniors.

Winners were selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors based on academic record, the difficulty level of the subjects studied, grades earned, scores from two standardized tests, contributions and leadership in school, community activities, an essay and a recommendation written by a high school official.

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